Yesterday, I was asked by Ed Silverman of STAT NEWS’ Pharmalot
for my thoughts about a report by the Office of Inspector General, Department
of Health and Human Services (OIG). The report is an audit of companies in the
drug supply chain to test compliance with regulations called for by the Drug
Supply Chain Security Act of 2013 (DSCSA). In short, as reported
in STAT, OIG found that seven out of 44 drugs audited could not be traced
back to the manufacturer in the manner required under the DSCSA. Add to that,
the physical locations of 21 drugs could not be determined. Since most drugs
subject to DSCSA are made overseas and imported, Mr. Silverman wanted to know
if this audit impacted drug importation proposals and plans in the works to
lower drug prices. The answer is probably no. The report appears to be a
worthwhile effort to test compliance with DSCSA. However, use of the word
“legitimate” is found in the DSCSA, and that word is often misused by opponents
of drug importation and international online pharmacies – and that got me
thinking. I’m sick of that word.
As I wrote
a few weeks back, PharmacyChecker
filed an antitrust lawsuit against five organizations that we believe are largely
funded or backed by pharmaceutical companies. We allege that these
organizations have conspired to illegally suppress competition in the areas of online
pharmacy verification services and drug price comparisons on the Internet. The
organizations are the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP),
Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP), Partnership for Safe Medicines
(PSM), LegitScript, and the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP).
As part of that suit, we filed a motion for preliminary
injunction to immediately stop the NABP from including PharmacyChecker.com and
this blogsite on its “Not Recommended Sites” list. That list was created to
ostensibly identify rogue online pharmacies but has included safe international
online pharmacies from its very inception. More recently NABP’s oversight has
been expanded, apparently, to also include sites—such as this blog—that help
consumers avoid rogue online pharmacies and find affordable drug prices!
Americans overwhelmingly believe that drug prices are unreasonably high in our country. Millions have looked to the Internet to find lower drug prices at pharmacies in other countries, many because they have no other choice. For over 16 years, PharmacyChecker has provided online pharmacy verification and drug price comparison information to help these people. As I’ve written about for years, the drug companies and U.S. pharmacy corporations don’t like this and take actions to make it stop.
PharmacyChecker has filed a lawsuit against organizations and companies that we allege are illegally conspiring to “to choke off information about personal importation of affordable prescription medications from regulated, reputable pharmacies in Canada and elsewhere overseas.”
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