Posted on 10/06/2004 5:04:32 AM PDT by foolscap
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A task force led by the U.S. Surgeon General is still drafting its report on drug importation, but one conclusion is already clear: Savvy shoppers can find cheaper prescription drugs in American pharmacies.
The new cost comparison by the task force found that "if patients will shop around they, very often, can beat the Canadian price," William Hubbard, FDA associate commissioner for policy and planning, said Tuesday, providing a first glimpse of one of the task force's early conclusions.
For years the drug regulatory agency, which is part of the 13-member task force, has said it questions the safety of Canadian prescription drug purchases that are growing in popularity among Americans.
In a telephone briefing with reporters on Tuesday, the FDA switched strategy, questioning the perceived cost savings of Canadian drugs.
While revealing the task force's general conclusion that imported drugs aren't always a bargain, Hubbard noted that the agency has begun its own comparison shopping, using a CanadaRx drug shipment intercepted by U.S. customs agents in Miami. The 439 packages contained 881 drugs with invoices showing how much Americans consumers paid.
Of 10 of the most common drugs in the intercepted shipment, Amiodarone was among the most striking contradictions, Hubbard said. Buying 100 of the 200 milligram versions of the drug, used to correct rapid heartbeat, from CanadaRx cost $116.97. Buying that same prescription from an American drug store, like Costco or Walgreen Co., cost $41.89, Hubbard said.
A "dirt cheap" diuretic used to treat hypertension cost $13 to order from Canada and $15 to ship. The generic drug's price at a corner drug store: $5.
"That kind of example is borderline ridiculous," Hubbard said.
Fully half of the intercepted drugs had generic equivalents that were cheaper in the United States and were approved by the FDA, he said.
The agency will complete its cost analysis of all 881 drugs in the intercepted shipment in the coming weeks, Hubbard said. A safety analysis, however, sounds less likely since testing the drugs costs $5,000.
Among the issues the task force is considering is the potential economic impact of legalizing American purchases of Canadian prescription
I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED! that the DemocRATS would lie to us and mislead us like this!
Of course the "comparison" was based upon one specific Canadian company vs. local pharmacies. Certainly you can pick ONE business and beat it's prices.
The fact remains that in MOST cases, the Canadian prices are cheaper than US prices.
When Canadian law dictates a maximum price for prescription drugs that is often less than the wholesale price here in the states.....
Canada does not have many of the drugs we have, because their government-run system will not approve a drug if they have a cheaper substitute. Example: I take Toprol, a once-a-day pill. It is unavailable in Canada. (A Canadian doctor had to call a US pharmacy to find what it was!) Canada allows a twice-a-day substitute, which is cheaper, but less convenient, and more likely to be forgotten occasionally by the patient.
When last I looked, the popular over-the-counter analgesic Aleve was not available in Canada.
This summer my son cut his head in a minor accident. We went to a local clinic (which had seen me two years earlier), but were turned away because the province had recently ordered them not to service "out-of-country" patients. We had to go to the main hospital in the provincial capital, and there we were told that we would possibly have to wait eight hours before getting treatment for a bleeding head would. The whole story (to long to relate here) gave us a feeling that we were in a Third World country.
A recent poll in the Globe & Mail (the Canadian version of the NY Times) shows steep annual declines in the public confidence in the much lauded Canadian health care system. The decline of Canadian medicine is a story which has gone largely unnoticed in the States.
I observe that those who recommend Canadian health care are likely to be the same people who who repeat the myth that Castro brought medical care to Cuba.
[Writer is a summer visitor to Canada.]
I agree with your assessment of the Canadian health care system. My mother works at a major US hospital near the US-Canada border. Half of the staff are Canadians. They like to work in the US to gain access to the US health care system. To Canadians, paying a few more dollars is better than a 2 year wait for surgery or 10 hours in the ER waiting room. And if you are over 55, most likely you won't get any surgery because it is too high risk or "not worth it". This is the system the Democrats want to model our system after Canada? Heaven help us...
I never claimed that the Canadian health care system was great or in any way competitive with the quality available in most parts of the US.
I was simply stating that the supposed study of drug costs was very narrow - and overall misleading.
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