by PharmacyChecker.com | Feb 18, 2011 | Healthcare Reform, Personal Drug Importation
Last May, we reported that AARP honored Senator Olympia Snowe (R- Maine) for her ongoing advocacy of policies and initiatives that seek to improve the lives of Americans age 50-plus. The award specifically mentioned her efforts to make safe drug importation legal and more available to help more Americans afford their medication. In our post on this recognition, we predicted that the issue of access to safe drugs would persist in the aftermath of the new healthcare legislation, and we’re now happy to announce that last week Senator Snowe put legalizing drug importation back on the Senate’s agenda.
Senator Snowe has introduced legislation that would amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic act to facilitate drug importation that would effectively lower prescription drug prices. Additionally, the bill would increase U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspections of international manufacturing plants. S. 319, the proposed Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2011, is similar to Senator Snowe’s co-sponsored bill from 2009, also known as the Dorgan Amendment. For more information on the Senator’s past support for personal drug importation, see our post Canadian Pharmacies and Personal Drug Importation Play Critical Role in Greater Healthcare Benefits for Americans. (more…)
Tagged with: AARP, bill, Canadian pharmacies, Congressman Ron Paul, Drug Importation, FDA, healthcare, personal drug importation, Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act, President Obama, S.319, safe drugs, Senate, Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator Snowe, seniors, United States, YouTube
by PharmacyChecker.com | Feb 4, 2011 | Drug Prices, Personal Drug Importation
Last week, YouTube hosted a question and answer session at the White House with President Barack Obama. Americans across the country submitted over 140,000 questions to YouTube, and over a million people voted on which of those questions moderator Steve Grove should ask the president. We were not surprised to find out that the top healthcare question related to none other than prescription drug prices and importation:
Why [does] the same medication that I use cost so much less in Mexico or Canada even though it is being made here in the United States? (Noah, 00:29:03)
Obama’s answer was upfront and honest, and frankly, we liked what he had to say. The president said, “Canada and Mexico are bulk purchasers of those drugs, so they negotiate much cheaper drug prices with the drug companies. We still don’t do that, and I actually think it’s something we should do – it would save us money.” We were also pleased to hear him reopening communication about drug importation. “It may be that importation is still something we should look at in terms of further lowering the price of drugs,” the president said. (more…)
Tagged with: Americans, Canada, drug costs, Drug Importation, Drug Prices, healthcare, Mexico, personal drug importation, President Obama, Senator Byron Dorgan, YouTube.com
by PharmacyChecker.com | Feb 2, 2011 | Drug Importation
A new SmartMoney.com article entitled Ten Things the FDA Won’t Tell You reaffirms what we’ve reported in the past – when it comes to drug importation for personal use, the FDA generally does not intervene. “Feel free to buy drugs across the border,” the article’s subhead reads. And the FDA confirms, “The agency focuses enforcement only on imports that are intended for resale.”
However, purchasing imported or domestically sold drugs through online pharmacies requires consumer caution, as fraudulent rogue online pharmacies abound. Importantly, the SmartMoney article also references a study conducted by Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute and published in the Public Library of Science, which confirmed that drugs sold on the internet that had been properly verified by either the PharmacyChecker.com Verification Program or the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s VIPPS Program sell genuine medication and require a prescription. (more…)
Tagged with: Congressman Ron Paul, FDA, NABP, Online Pharmacy Verification Services, personal drug importation, Public Library of Science One, Senator Chuck Grassley, SmartMoney, Verification Program, VIPPS
