by PharmacyChecker.com | Mar 30, 2012 | Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies, Online Pharmacy Verification Services, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that pharmacies approved in the PharmacyChecker.com Verification Program sell safe medication and can help Americans achieve substantial savings. By filling 370 prescriptions through 41 online pharmacies and testing the authenticity of the medications received, independent researchers from the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. found no test failures among online pharmacies verified by third-party verifiers, such as PharmacyChecker.com.
Since all online pharmacies approved by PharmacyChecker.com – whether American or foreign – are licensed, require a prescription, and meet high standards of online pharmacy safety, the results of this study are not the least bit surprising. Past studies have shown the exact same results. Still, the FDA ignores the facts and continues a consumer education policy recommending that Americans completely avoid non-US online pharmacies. We believe the FDA’s policy is unethical and unfair. More importantly, its policy is bad for the public health because less access to affordable prescription drugs means fewer Americans will procure needed medications.
For more on this study see our news release.
Tagged with: affordable prescriptions, Drug Prices, international pharmacies, Online Pharmacies, pharmacychecker.com
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Oct 20, 2011 | Drug Prices
The simple answer is that tens of millions of Americans cannot afford prescription drugs here in the United States because they’re too expensive. Meanwhile, drug prices outside the U.S. are much lower – often 80% lower. Americans skipping or not taking prescription drugs is a national emergency largely going ignored in our healthcare debate.
Here are the facts about Americans skipping medication due to drug prices:
1. 25 million Americans did not take prescribed medication in 2009 due to cost, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 1997 to 2009, the percentage of Americans not taking their medications due to cost nearly doubled increasing from 4.8 to 8.4%.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus10.pdf#highlights
2. 48 million Americans ages 19-64 did not fill a prescription due to cost in 2010, according to the Commonwealth Fund – a 66% increase since 2001.
Source: The Commonwealth Fund 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey, http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Surveys/2011/Mar/2010-Biennial-Health-Insurance-Survey.aspx.
3. 3.4 million Medicare enrollees stop taking their medication due to the coverage gap.
Source: Polinski JM, Shrank WH, Huskamp HA, Glynn RJ, Liberman JN, et al. 2011 Changes in Drug Utilization during a Gap in Insurance Coverage: An Examination of the Medicare Part D Coverage Gap. PLoS Medicine.
4. Prescription non-adherence adds $290 billion to America’s healthcare costs.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 76 FR 12969. March 2011. http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/03/09/2011-5287/campaign-to-improve-poor-medication-adherence-u18.
Access our RxSOS fact sheet here.
Tagged with: Commonwealth Fund, coverage gap, Drug Prices, FDA, FDA warnings, healthcare, international pharmacies, Medicare, National Center for Health Statistics, PLoS, prescription non-adherence, prescriptions, Public Library of Science, safety, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, United States
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Apr 5, 2011 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
For the past decade, millions of Americans have safely purchased low-priced medications from Canadian and other non-U.S. online pharmacies. Now it appears that the White House Office of the Intellectual Property Rights seeks to shutdown such online pharmacies because they are not on a “White List” being created by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), an organization that misleadingly categorizes all non-U.S. online pharmacies that sell to Americans as “rogue.” Already, 25 million Americans do not take their medication due to cost. With less access to affordable medication, fewer Americans will take the medications they need.
We urge you to write to President Obama and your congressional representatives, and demand that actions are not taken against online pharmacies that safely provide affordable medication.
For more news on this advocacy initiative, click here.
Tagged with: Advocacy, Americans, Canada, Congress, drugs from canada, intellectual property rights, international pharmacies, NABP, pharmacies, President Ob, rogue, safe medicine, skip medication, United States, White House
