Importation
Exportation of Pharmaceuticals from Canada to the United States
Original pdf copy of letter. Statement from the Best Medicines Coalition: The Best Medicines Coalition (BMC) acknowledges that pharmaceutical costs and supply issues are a significant barrier to accessibility and optimal patient care and can appreciate the motivation behind measures to address these issues. However, the BMC is gravely concerned about developments which may facilitate…
[...]Statement of The Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance on U.S. legislation to import medication from Canadian pharmacies.
In 2016, The Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance wrote a letter asking American “not to raid Canada’s pharmacies to try and buy cheaper medicines.” “Our newspapers,” they wrote, “are filled every day with stories of patients struggling to get medicines they are prescribed because we have barely enough drug supply to meet our needs. Shortages of medications across all therapeutic types have been happening more and more frequently, and Canadian patients are endangered by them.”
[...]When Buying from a Fake Online Pharmacy, IRACM Wants You to know “It’s All Fake!”
A new campaign by International Institute for Research Against Counterfeit Medicines (IRACM) aims to educate patients that anyone with access to the Internet can be exposed to counterfeit drugs via fake online pharmacies. Did you realize that of 331,430 websites monitored by Legitscript, a whopping 94.3% are selling pharmaceuticals illegally? The Wild West nature of…
[...]Over 30 Groups Nationally Oppose Drug Importation
Recently, conversations and debate about drug importation has reached a fever pitch. Partnership For Safe Medicines’ many coalition members want Congress to know about our concerns for the safety of American patients. The secure American drug supply chain protects American consumers from dangerous counterfeit, substandard and unsafe medicines. Any effort designed to bypass FDA controls…
[...]Rogues Gallery Comics: An Illustrated Guide To Counterfeit Drug Crime
The Rogues Gallery Comic Book series tells the real-life stories of fake drug criminals and their cases. Volume one tells about the Greedy Doctor that lied to patients with no hope for a cure, the Master Counterfeiter whose greed drove him straight into the arms of US investigators, the Black Marketer who sold fake drugs to US doctors, and the mystery Criminal Mastermind responsible for introducing counterfeit cancer medication to U.S. oncology practices. In volume two, you’ll read about The Smooth Talker and his $150,000 car, the Canadian who pioneered the fake online pharmacy business model, and the Hero Nurses that stood between oncology patients and dangerous fake medications.
[...]New York Man Who Ran Medical Device King Convicted In Prescription Drug Importation Scheme
Update: On December 13, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated William Scully’s conviction because a lower court “declined to allow Scully to introduce evidence at his 2015 trial showing he sought legal advice about importing drugs with foreign labels from one of his lawyers.” Ultimately Scully pleaded guilty to one charge of…
[...]Illinois’ experience with iSaveRX, 2004–2009
Between 2004 and 2009 a number of states experimented with drug importation from countries that supposedly had online pharmacies offering cheaper medications. Illinois was a leader in this area, spending significant state resources marketing and promoting the program while working with Ram Kamath, who later became Director of Pharmacy Policy and International Verifications at PharmacyChecker. The…
[...]In 2013, Maine became the 1st state in the country to enact a “drug importation ordinance.”
By February of 2015 the law had been thrown out, but only after the President of the Maine Pharmacy Association experienced first hand what patients can be exposed to when buying drugs from a Canadian online pharmacy. On June 27, 2013, the Maine Legislature passed LD 171, the Act to Facilitate Personal Importation of Prescription…
[...]Ray Richardson show information
CanaRX on the Ray Richardson show on Mon 4/15/2013 @ 7am EST This coming Monday morning 4/15/2013 @ 7am EST the Ray Richardson show is going to talk about importing drugs and have, as a guest, CanaRX, the company that fills Mainers prescriptions by passing them along to unlicensed pharmacies in other countries to be…
[...]Questions and Answers on Medicine Importation
Question: What’s the difference between a Canadian retail pharmacy you can drive over the border to patronize and a “Canadian online pharmacy” that sends you medicine in the mail?
Answer: A Canadian web pharmacy is probably just a shipping company that claims to be a pharmacy, that may not even really be in Canada.
Question: Where do the medicines you get from a “Canadian online pharmacy” come from?
Answer: All around the world, but not from Canada.
The USFDA’s seized medications show that nearly half the imported drugs intercepted from four foreign countries were labeled as “Canadian.” But not only that, 85% of the medicines came from 27 countries around the globe, and tested drugs were found to be counterfeit. Learn more>
Question: Don’t Canadian online pharmacies provide great deals because they source medicine from safe Tier One countries like Canada, Australia and England?
Answer: No. Counterfeit medicine with no active ingredients, or cheaper and inappropriate ingredients, are the way they make the big bucks while tricking you into thinking youv’e gotten a great deal.
So-called Canadian web pharmacies (that actually hold no pharmacy license) assure customers that their drug imports are only from countries designated as Tier One by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. However, the map to the left shows a selection of counterfeit medicine incidents that have occurred in Canada, Israel, and the European Union. Incidents have also occurred in the other Tier One countries not seen on the map. Some incidents have occurred in more than one country, such as the counterfeit cancer medication described above that traveled through several EU countries before it arrived in the US at the behest of a so-called Canadian online pharmacy. Learn more>
Question: Can’t the FDA and Health Canada protect me from danger if I buy medicines from outside the U.S.?
Answer: No.Says the FDA, “The FDA cannot help you if you have problems with medicine you get from outside U.S. regulation and oversight.”
Additionally medicines that are shipped between countries aren’t required to be inspected for authenticity. Health Canada isn’t going to check to make sure the medicines you receive are authentic, neither are the governments of any other country and that is most likely where your packages are coming from anyway.Learn more