The answer is simple, use eDrugSearch.com. We’ve worked with all of the pharmacies that are listed in our database for the last six years and each pharmacy has earned trust what not only us, but the thousands of customers they serve each month. eDrugSearch.com is a FREE resource for you, that brings together the world’s top Canadian pharmacies in a single “non-biased” directory to make it easy to compare drug prices and save up to 80% off US retail prices.

We only accept online pharmacies that pass a rigorous online pharmacy verification process – including proof of a Canadian pharmacy license and verification by several online pharmacy accreditations. With our strict guidelines and our constant watch over our database we guarantee you’ll never have to worry about ordering your medications from a rogue online pharmacy . . . ever.

So how do you get started? It’s easy, just go to www.eDrugSearch.com, type in your medication in the search box, compare your drug prices, then click on the “BUY NOW” button to be directed to your licensed Canadian pharmacy to order your discount medications today!

eDrugSearch.com, a free online service that allows Americans to find substantial savings on prescription drugs from Canadian and international pharmacies is pleased to give consumers another tool in seeking out savings on their prescription medication – the eDrugSearch.com online price comparison search.

With more than 100,000+ drugs listed on its website, eDrugSearch offers consumers the ability to find discounts of up to 80 percent off of brick-and-mortar store prices, and compare drugs retailers by pharmacy, customer satisfaction rating and cost per unit.

Now, eDrugSearch.com can help those looking to buy aciphex online by providing a comprehensive list of sellers that not only offer a safe and quality product, but at a price that is a substantial reduction from what traditional U.S. retail pharmacies will demand. With eDrugSearch the average consumer stands to save 72 percent on every purchase they make, thanks to up-to-the-minute price searching capabilities of the eDrugsSearch.com search engine.

The company is also committed to ensuring that when customers compare aciphex prices online, only the safest and most reputable results are returned. All pharmacies listed on eDrugSearch.com must pass a rigorous screening process in order to be listed in any search result, a process that includes demonstrating proof of home-country licensing and accreditation by third parties. The combination of safety, reliability and price gives the eDrugSearch.com drug search function a leg up on similar websites or prescription medication searches.

Those looking to buy aciphex online are often stunned by the high costs for even small amounts of the drug, and can be left feeling hopeless, unsure that their budget can accommodate the high amounts being charged for the essential medications needed for their health. eDrugSearch.com is a passionate consumer advocate, and a company that believes in getting people the drugs they need at a price that is fair and reasonable – not one that is inflated simply to make a profit.

When consumers compare aciphex prices using eDrugSearch.com’s comparison feature, they will begin to see the wide variety of pharmacies both in Canada and in other countries abroad that are able to offer up to an 80 percent discount and deliver medications both quickly and reliably.

Click here to compare aciphex prices: http://www.edrugsearch.com/compare-drug-prices-buy-online/Aciphex

Prescription medications are some of the most expensive items that a consumer will ever have to pay for, and often feature markups of a hundred percent or more, just to fill the pockets of the companies that produce and market the drug. With the help of websites like eDrugSearch.com, Americans can not only find the right amount of aciphex they need, but find it at a savings so substantial it will often make retail drug prices seem like a form of theft.

eDrugSearch.com is committed to providing Americans with not only easy access to the prescription medication they need at pharmacies around the world, but to privacy and convenience. Get aciphex today from a licensed pharmacy at the right price.

eDrugSearch.com, a free online service that allows Americans to find substantial savings on prescription drugs from Canadian and international pharmacies is pleased to give consumers another tool in seeking out savings on their prescription medication – the eDrugSearch.com online price comparison search.

With more than 100,000+ drugs listed on its website, eDrugSearch offers consumers the ability to find discounts of up to 80 percent off of brick-and-mortar store prices, and compare drugs retailers by pharmacy, customer satisfaction rating and cost per unit.

Now, eDrugSearch.com can help those looking to buy abilify online by providing a comprehensive list of sellers that not only offer a safe and quality product, but at a price that is a substantial reduction from what traditional U.S. retail pharmacies will demand. With eDrugSearch the average consumer stands to save 72 percent on every purchase they make, thanks to up-to-the-minute price searching capabilities of the eDrugsSearch.com search engine.

The company is also committed to ensuring that when customers compare abilify prices online, only the safest and most reputable results are returned. All pharmacies listed on eDrugSearch.com must pass a rigorous screening process in order to be listed in any search result, a process that includes demonstrating proof of home-country licensing and accreditation by third parties. The combination of safety, reliability and price gives the eDrugSearch.com drug search function a leg up on similar websites or prescription medication searches.

Those looking to buy abilify online are often stunned by the high costs for even small amounts of the drug, and can be left feeling hopeless, unsure that their budget can accommodate the high amounts being charged for the essential medications needed for their health. eDrugSearch.com is a passionate consumer advocate, and a company that believes in getting people the drugs they need at a price that is fair and reasonable – not one that is inflated simply to make a profit.

When consumers compare abilify prices using eDrugSearch.com’s comparison feature, they will begin to see the wide variety of pharmacies both in Canada and in other countries abroad that are able to offer up to an 80 percent discount and deliver medications both quickly and reliably.

Prescription medications are some of the most expensive items that a consumer will ever have to pay for, and often feature markups of a hundred percent or more, just to fill the pockets of the companies that produce and market the drug. With the help of websites like eDrugSearch.com, Americans can not only find the right amount of drug name they need, but find it at a savings so substantial it will often make retail drug prices seem like a form of theft.

eDrugSearch.com is committed to providing Americans with not only easy access to the prescription medication they need at pharmacies around the world, but to privacy and convenience. Get drug name today from a licensed pharmacy at the right price.

Compare Abilify Prices Online & Save!

We’re nearing the end of the year, and many people are already in open enrollment for next year’s health coverage, which means it is a great time to plan ahead for your 2010 drug expenditures. No, you can’t know every medication you are going to need, but if you are on a popular, patented maintenance drug such as Lipitor or Cozaar, you’ll be pleased to hear that their patents are expiring in 2010, opening the field for more-affordable U.S. generic versions.

In the meantime, as you do your research, you will see that many are already available as generics, manufactured outside of the U.S. There is usually a considerable cost savings.

Here are all the details of some of the highest-profile drugs that have expiring patents as of the end of 2009, or during 2010 — and how and where to get the generic versions.

ARICEPT (donepezil). Pfizer makes the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor Aricept for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Aricept is scheduled to lose patent protection in the U.S. in 2010, but generic versions are already available.

COZAAR (losartan). Merck’s Cozaar is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, used to treat hypertension. Cozaar’s patent protection in the U.S. will expire in 2010. In the meantime, generic losartan is available here.

LEVAQUIN (levofloxacin). Johnson & Johnson’s antibiotic drug Levaquin will outlive its patent protection in 2010. However, until that time, you can purchase generic levofloxacin here.

LIPITOR (atorvastatin). Pfizer has the best-selling drug in the world in Lipitor, which treats high cholesterol. In the US, the basic patent for Lipitor expires in March 2010, while the second patent covering the calcium salt of atorvastatin expires in June 2011. It is not yet clear exactly which date will see widespread availability of generic Lipitor in the U.S., but it is coming. In the meantime, generic atorvastatin is available here.

XENICAL (orlistat). Roche’s Xenical is an obesity treatment that prevents the digestive system from absorbing fats. Its patent expires in December of this year.  (Note: In some countries, including the U.S., orlistat is available over-the-counter as GlaxoSmithKline’s Alli.)

VALTREX (valacyclovir). GlaxoSmithKline’s Valtrex is a treatment for herpes simplex and herpes zoster (shingles). Valacyclovir was recently approved for generic production, and so generic versions will be on the U.S. market by the end of 2009. As of this writing, generic valacyclovir is available here.

If you’re interested in the business ramifications for the pharmaceutical companies, CNN ran a good article on the topic, and so did Chemistry World.

Enjoy using EDrugSearch.com to knowledgeably plan your medication choices for the coming year.

Major depressive disorder affects approximately 15 million American adults in the U.S. in a given year, and a first pharmacological line of defense is often a prescription for an SSRI such as Prozac, Celexa, or Zoloft. (These drugs have been favored since the late 1980s for the treatment of depression as they are generally well tolerated, have fewer side effects than their predecessors the MAOIs, and help a great many people.)

However, people suffering from atypical depression — characterized by hunger and sleepiness, rather than loss of appetite and insomnia — may have different needs in an antidepressant and should discuss with their doctor options such as Bupropion (familiarly known by its GlaxoSmithKline trade name, Wellbutrin), which could help where popular SSRIs might fail.

That is because SSRIs — Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors — work on the neurotransmitter Serotonin, while Wellbutrin — an NDRI — is a Norepinephrine and Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor. This change of focus in the affected neurotransmitter may make all the difference for those individuals who suffer depression in an atypical manner.

Atypical depression differs from regular, “melancholic” depression primarily in energy and appetite. It is often characterized by “reversed vegetative symptoms” such as over-eating (regular depressives have little appetite) and/or over-sleeping (regular depression is usually characterized by sleeplessness).It is estimated that up to 40% of people suffering from depression have atypical symptoms.

Wellbutrin reportedly has a more enlivening affect than the SSRIs, so it is often considered for those who are sleeping abnormally long amounts. (For this reason, it is not advised for those suffering anxiety or agitation.) It is also one of the only antidepressants that is not associated with weight gain, and for this reason is also suitable for atypical depressives who may be overeating.

Even successful users of SSRIs have reason to consider Wellbutrin. SSRIs have widely-known sexual side effects that trouble some patients, even if the SSRI is curing their depression. This may make them turn to their physician for refinement of the prescription. Says Ray Sahelian, M.D.:

Since bupropion raises dopamine levels, it actually can enhance sexuality rather than depress libido as do many SSRIs. Bupropion has been shown to have a favorable effect on sexual dysfunction. Several reports and small, short-term trials have examined bupropion as an adjunct or substitute for other antidepressants in sexually dysfunctional patients. This means that Wellbutrin is often prescribed for sufferers of atypical depression, but it is also prescribed as an add-on for people using SSRIs who would like to try to combat the sexual side effects of SSRIs.

In other words, Wellbutrin is often prescribed as an add-on to an SSRI for the express purpose of relieving some of the SSRI’s sexual side effects (usually loss of libido or functioning).

Depression is not the only condition that Bupropion has been approved to treat. In 1997, it was approved by the FDA as a smoking cessation aid under the name Zyban. And in 2006, Wellbutrin XL was approved as a treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder. Because both Wellbutrin (prescribed for depression) and Zyban (prescribed for smoking cessation) are essentially Bupropion, patients should not take both at the same time; they would be doubling their dose.

Caution: The most well-known side effect of Bupropion is that it lowers seizure thresholds. Doctors have worked around this with lower dosages (it is highly dose-dependent) and controlled-release formulations. Still, those with seizure disorders should avoid Bupropion. Other common side effects are nervousness/ agitation and insomnia. As with any antidepressant, people suffering from increased depressive symptoms or thoughts of suicide should contact their doctor immediately.

Some formulations of Bupropion are available as generics in the United States and Canada.

U.S. Brand Names

• Budeprion SR®
• Budeprion XL®
• Buproban™
• Wellbutrin SR®
• Wellbutrin XL®
• Wellbutrin®
• Zyban®

Canadian Brand Names

• Novo-Bupropion SR
• PMS-Bupropion SR
• RATIO-Bupropion SR
• SANDOZ-Bupropion SR
• Wellbutrin XL®
• Wellbutrin®
• Zyban®

I received the following message the other day from one of our blog’s readers, Susanna Brooks:

I cannot believe that I cannot buy drugs in Canada (with a prescription). It’s been the only way that I can get some of the medications that I need that are ungodly expensive in the United States. I will work to vote against any Senator/Congressman that votes against the Canadian medications being sold/deliver in the U.S.A.!!

Sharing Susanna’s Sentiments

I know for a fact that tens of millions of people share Susanna’s sentiments. Surveys show that up to 80 percent of Americans agree that we should be able to buy prescription drugs from licensed Canadian pharmacies. So why aren’t the American people (officially, at least) allowed to do so?

As readers of this blog know, we’ve been covering the progress of proposed legislation on drug reimportation — allowing Americans to buy drugs from Canada — for some time now. The issue first bubbled to the surface in the late 90s, as the Internet made it easy for Americans to access Canadian pharmacies, enabling them to buy drugs for up to 80 percent less than at domestic drugstores.

Drug companies have tried everything to prevent this kind of free trade from happening. They’ve threatened to cut off supplies to Canadian drugstores that sold to Americans. They’ve tried to link Canadian drugstores to terrorism. And currently, they’re spending a lot of money with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and other “independent” groups to spread lies about the safety of licensed Canadian pharmacies.

But ultimately, Big Pharma’s most effective weapons against American consumers have been our own representatives in Congress and the White House. Thanks to the more than $1 billion that Big Pharma has paid out in Washington in the past decade, these politicians are really not our representatives at all. They’re Big Pharma’s representatives.

Surely, it’s been a tricky proposition for the politicians — opposing something that the American people overwhelmingly support. And how they’ve handled it over the past decade has been a dishonest, double-dealing mess.

How It All Started

Let’s take a look back:

It all started with “Slick Willie” — Bill Clinton. Both Clinton and his Republican Congress knew that Americans wanted legal reimportation. But they worked together (thanks to bags of money from Big Pharma) to give us a classic bait and switch.

Clinton, who publicly stated his support for reimportation, signed the Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act into law on October 28, 2000, which supposedly made it legal. But the law contained huge loopholes that rendered it meaningless. One of these was to require Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to certify that the law would “pose no additional risk to public health and safety” and “significantly lower the cost of prescription drugs.” Shalala refused to do this, and the law became moot.

Then Bush won the 2000 election. Bush, like Clinton, was an avowed supporter of reimportation — at least during the campaign. He said reimportation “makes sense” as a way to provide a “helping hand” to the elderly.

After the election, Bush withdrew that helping hand, going silent on the issue. Members of Congress, spurred on by angry constituents, re-introduced reimportation legislation and, once again, it passed both houses of Congress. But again, it died.

In 2008, both Obama and McCain were vocal supporters of reimportation. Obama presented it as a main plank in his healthcare plan.

In anticipation of the new president’s support, bills to allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada were introduced in both the House and the Senate this spring. But now it looks like this proposed legislation will not even be brought to a vote.

Obama’s Backroom Deal

Why? Because Obama cut a backroom deal with Big Pharma, agreeing not to support reimportation if the pharmaceutical industry agreed not to fight Obama’s other planned health reforms.

And that’s the sad, sordid history of how a public policy that in the past 10 years has been supported (during campaigns) by:

• Bill Clinton;
• Al Gore;
• George W. Bush;
• John Kerry;
• John McCain; and
• Barack Obama

has still not become law in the United States.

Can you think of a single other policy that every president or party candidate for an entire decade has supported — and yet, somehow, has never become law?

I can’t.

As a reader of this blog, I’m guessing you may agree with the sentiments of our frustrated reader, Susanna Brooks. But my question is, how many of you care enough about this issue to do something about it?

Are you willing to write the FDA? Call your Congressman? Send a letter to the White House?

If so, now is the time to do it. Because once healthcare legislation is passed (in all likelihood) in the fall, drug reimportation could be a forgotten issue for years to come.

Source

We’re written before about U.S. Senator David Vitter’s quixotic fight to legalize the purchase of Canadian drugs by Americans — long after the battle over reimportation has been lost in a thick haze of Big Pharma backroom bargaining with the White House.

Last week, Vitter — a Republican — took some heat from liberals by explaining at a town hall meeting that he hoped to de-stabilize pricing in Canada and other countries with “socialized medicine” by legalizing reimportation.

The Daily Kos ripped Vitter, saying:

His reason for supporting re-importation is solely predicated on the notion that if enough Americans partake, it might wreck Canada’s system … Despite the lack of plausibility in his “logic”, Vitter now claims the clubhouse lead for worst rationale for a policy position ever.

No, not exactly.

What Vitter is really talking about is using the global free market to rationalize prices worldwide. And to that I say, Amen!

As Vitter explains:

I believe re-importation will cause the pricing system world-wide that the big drug companies exploit to collapse. Right now the big drug companies are able to charge very different prices in different countries, and of course we pay the highest price of all. If they did that, like they do now, but then we can write off to Canada, and pass certain safety provisions, and get drugs from there – guess what? That system implodes. That system can’t survive. So my ultimate goal, in terms of re-importation, is causing that system to collapse, so there’s a true, world-wide price for a drug. And that might – wouldn’t might – that would increase the cost in Canada, that would dramatically decrease the cost in the US.

Sounds good to me. How about you?

Some analysts say that if drug reimportation were legalized and it led to a run on Canadian pharmacies by Americans, the Canadian government would simply restrict supplies of exports so as not to distort its pricing system.

I’m not sure exactly how things would unfold. But the most important consequence would be that the cat would be out of the bag, once and for all, on prescription drug prices. Once Americans were legally able to buy drugs at the much-lower prices charged in every other industrialized nation, they would never go back to accepting the outrageous prices that drug companies are allowed to charge in the United States.

Would prices in Canada rise, as Vitter suggests? It’s possible, I suppose. But frankly, I doubt it.

Guess what? Drug companies sell their drugs in Canada because they make money doing it. It’s not charity work. If Canada’s so-called “price controls” prevented Big Pharma from making a profit, they would simply pull out of the Canadian market.

The reality is, the prices that Canadians (and Europeans, Australians, Japanese, etc.) pay for their medications are enough to keep the pharmaceutical industry fat and happy.

I think the only real impact of a free global market in pharmaceuticals is that drug prices in the United States would drop by 25 to 40 percent — and would not continue to rise at three times the rate of inflation, as they’ve been doing for years.

And Big Pharma would do just fine. It would simply have to settle for something less than the 30 percent profit margins to which it has become accustomed.

I recently saw yet another op-ed in another newspaper by another Big Pharma shill — you know, someone handed his talking points and told to go at it.

You can tell they’re a shill when they make exactly the same argument, point by point, as all the other shills make. You also know they’re a shill when they claim to be a conservative — and yet support blatant protectionism and all sorts of other anti-free market principles when it comes to Big Pharma.

Here’s a taste of the op-ed on Canadian drug reimportation, by a Dr. Gilbert Ross of the American Council on Science and Health in the Washington Examiner:

While many think of them as a cheap alternative to domestic drug purchases, the so-called “Canadian” drugs allowed under the Vitter Amendment can come from almost anywhere on the globe. It’s an easy path for substandard and toxic drugs to enter our supply…

Imposing price controls here — which is what importation, in effect, does — will lead to stagnation in our own drug research and development process. Our children and grandchildren will have to accept 2009-quality drugs far into the future.

Yes, the American Council on Science and Health is a corporate front group, of course. And Ross’ “conservative” arguments are as tired as can be.

But I was pleasantly surprised to see comments on Ross’ post by people who understand what conservative principles actually are — and who saw the post for what it was.

A “Lanier Y Chapman” wrote –

Shouldn’t good conservatives be against the FDA, which is a government regulator? Let drugs (medicinal and narcotic) come in, and let anyone buy anything from anywhere.

And by the way, free importation is not price control. It’s just free trade. How can you be against free trade? Dr. Ross sounds like a shill, and drug companies are sounding like car manufacturers, teachers’ unions, NEA perverts, steel producers, sugar growers, etc–lobbies that try to use government intervention to steal money from Americans.

And then there’s this comment from “Steve,” who introduces Ross’ pharma doubletalk to reality:

Yes, I want to see the U.S. pharmaceutical industry continue to be innovative; but at the same time, for example I’m getting a drug from India (thru Canada) that costs me $225 for a 90 day supply. The U.S. version (discovered by a U.S. company) would cost me over $1000 for a 90 day supply. And to make it worse, my insurance company will not pay for any of it, even though it is necessary.

Don’t buy any of Big Pharma’s ridiculous arguments about reimportation. And please, don’t buy that they’re “conservative” arguments.

They’re anything but.

Image source

Above is a photograph by Eric Seals of the Detroit Free Press. It depicts James and Geraldine Keon, who for the past three years have regularly purchased their prescription drugs from Canada.

The Free Press profiles the Keons and other Americans who use Canadian pharmacies as part of a story on drug reimportation published over the weekend.

The piece is a bit too heavily influenced by Big Pharma lobbyists and their government cronies, who raise the usual bogeyman arguments about Canadian drugs. But a few important points shine through –

One congressional estimate says Americans could save $50 billion over 10 years if the nation permitted U.S.-manufactured drugs to be reimported from Canada and other nations where price controls on pharmaceuticals hold down costs.

Even PhRMA and the FDA acknowledge there haven’t been widespread incidences of people falling ill or dying from adulterated, counterfeit or mislabeled drugs purchased via Internet pharmacies.

“Some industry groups out there have clearly been active in a public relations campaign to make it seem like buying drugs from Canada is not safe,” said Gabriel Levitt, PharmacyChecker’s vice president. “To scare Americans who are getting their prescriptions safely is borderline unethical.”

The article also offers these four tips for buying from Canadian pharmacies:

Have the name of the pharmacy and its address, phone, license number and province. The information should be clearly identified on the company’s Web page.

Buy drugs only through pharmacies affiliated with the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, a trade group.

Buy only from pharmacies that require a prescription from the patient’s U.S. physician.

The pharmacy must have a Canadian physician who reviews the prescription, as well as pharmacists available for consultation.

All Canadian pharmacies in the eDrugSearch.com network meet these criteria.

PharmacyChecker.com is the leading verification authority for online pharmacies in the United States and Canada. Over the past six years, PharmacyChecker arguably has done more than any other organization to help Americans make safe choices when buying prescription drugs from Canada. Google requires all pharmacies in its ad network to receive PharmacyChecker verification, and eDrugSearch.com requires all member pharmacies to have PharmacyChecker verification as well.

Unfortunately, PharmacyChecker.com has been under attack from Big Pharma and its proxies in recents months. Last year, Big Pharma launched a disinformation campaign, advanced by the NABP and other organizations, to link licensed, legitimate Canadian pharmacies with dangerous rogue pharmacies. This despite the fact that no American has ever been reported injured by a drug purchased from a licensed Canadian pharmacy.

We chatted recently with PharmacyChecker.com Vice President Gabriel Levitt about his organization’s mission, Big Pharma propaganda, and the drug reimportation legislation recently put before Congress.

Q: When and why was PharmacyChecker.com created?

A: PharmacyChecker.com opened its “virtual doors” in April of 2003 to help Americans identify licensed pharmacies operating online that offered the best prices. The earliest origins of the company began with requests to ConsumerLab.com’s president, Tod Cooperman, M.D., about how to find safe Canadian online pharmacies and Dr. Cooperman’s subsequent decision to start such a service focusing on pharmacies both in and outside the United States.

Q: How did your relationship with Google come about? How does it work?

A: In 2006, the search engines needed a new company to help them qualify and monitor online pharmacies to prevent “rogue” online pharmacies from advertising in their search marketing spaces. PharmacyChecker.com was already involved in precisely these efforts for three years and was the natural company to go with.

Q: In the past year, the pharmaceutical industry, the NABP and others have mounted a campaign to convince people that Canadian pharmacies aren’t safe. What are your thoughts about the industry’s arguments and tactics?

A: These groups have cleverly taken genuine concerns over counterfeiting and unethical pharmacy practices by truly rogue websites and associated those fears with safe, licensed non-U.S. online pharmacies that operate ethically. They do this by publishing “not approved” lists that include safe, Canadian-based online pharmacies AND dangerous, rogue websites, attempting to brand them as one and the same.

With funding by Pfizer, for example, the NABP created such a list of “not approved” pharmacies. The pharmaceutical trade group, PhRMA, created a website that directs people to this list. Other groups that appear to receive funding or revenue from pharmaceutical companies have used similar schemes to brand licensed non-U.S. pharmacies as rogue, illegal, illegitimate, or not approved.

Why are pharmaceutical companies doing this? Most likely because safe, Canadian-based online pharmacies are putting a dent in their profits by allowing Americans to buy their drugs at lower prices.

The fact is that non-U.S. websites that are verified by PharmacyChecker.com require an original prescription, fill orders with licensed pharmacies and meet other important safety standards of online pharmacy practice. These sites help Americans who can’t afford the drug prices here at home. In complete contrast, rogue online pharmacies are dangerous, unethical, and often take advantage of the American consumer. It seems wrong that NABP, the pharmaceutical industry, and related parties are trying to lead Americans to believe that these two very different types of websites are one and the same.

Recently, we have learned that these groups are using similar tactics to scare search engines from permitting low cost pharmacies in Canada and elsewhere from advertising. It seems particularly galling for them to do this now, at a time when millions of Americans are already skipping medication due to cost.

Q: One of the industry’s main arguments against reimportation is that the drugs that licensed Canadian pharmacies sell to Americans do not meet the same safety standards as the drugs sold to Canadians. What is your response to this?

A: Regulated drug products manufactured under Good Manufactured Practices (GMP) and sold in Canada and many other countries are just as safe as those approved in the United States. If the head of the NABP or even the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of American were travelling in Winnipeg and needed medication due to a sudden illness would they trust a Canadian pharmacy? Of course they would. Drug products approved in Canada are just as safe as those in the U.S.

Q: We know that the industry has been planting stories in the news media, including attacks on Google and PharmacyChecker. Are you concerned about these attempts to discredit you? How are you responding to them?

A: Such stories do appear to be stimulated by the pharmaceutical industry or those supported by the industry. While some contain legitimate concerns, they typically build on the strategy of mixing issues, trying to mislead and unnecessarily scare consumers and other parties. On several occasions we have been contacted by journalists who claim that a dangerous drug can be purchased without a prescription from a site approved by us. We have proven this to be incorrect, as in the case above. We are proactive in contacting and correcting those sites that publish incorrect or misleading information.

Q: Do you believe that the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2009, allowing American consumers to purchase drugs from Canadian pharmacies, will be made law this year? Why or why not?

A: That bill was voted down in committee. Right now an amendment has passed in the Senate that would help Americans continue to purchase safe medication from Canada, by not allowing newly allocated funds to be used to confiscate such shipments; although confiscations have been rare in recent years anyhow. It’s uncertain if this amendment will become law.

I really don’t know what will happen in Congress but I hope our government doesn’t rely on promises from the pharmaceutical companies about lowering drug prices in the future as a reason to stop Americans from getting their medications now. The recent announcement that pharmaceutical companies will provide a discount to seniors during the “gap” in Medicare Part D drug programs is not much of a concession and of no value to the vast majority of Americans.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share with our audience?

A: Americans need to be mindful of the intent of pharmaceutical companies to scare them away from lower-cost, licensed pharmacies abroad. They should question information that suggests dangers with such pharmacies and use PharmacyChecker.com’s free verification research and drug price information to help them. Also, our website provides drug price comparisons of non-U.S. pharmacy prices and U.S. pharmacy prices. Americans should know that many generic drugs are cheaper in the United States and should take advantage of those low prices.