Canadian pharmacy law

Government Regulation and medications from Canada

From what I can see a law against importing drugs not approved by the FDA was only put into place in 1987 !  Here is a quote from the third paragraph of a letter from William K. Hubbard, Associate Commissioner for Policy & Planning at the FDA.  There is actually a claim made in this letter that there would be very little true savings purchasing drugs from Canada:

Please "drag and drop" this icon to you Favorites or Links bar for all your future visits to Canada Pharmacy.  Thanks, Bob

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/importdrugs/kamath.html
"In 1987, in response to instances of unapproved and unsafe foreign medicines entering the United States, Congress enacted legislation to prohibit the importation of unapproved medicines. While the public health threats caused by such medications were significant enough for Congress to act in 1987, the potential threats from unapproved prescription drugs are even greater today. Unapproved and unregulated medicines bought over the Internet can come from anywhere. Even medicines that appear to be the same or have the same brand name as those bought in the United States can be dangerously different. We cannot and must not allow the Internet to become the 21st Century's snake oil outlet."

The letter above goes on to claim there would be very little true savings if a US state government were to import drugs from Canada.  But here is another letter also penned by the FDA basically saying the cost reduction temptation is so great it is the true source of regulatory problems.  Statement of John M. Taylor Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs, Food and Drug Administration:

http://www.fda.gov/ola/2003/southfl0310.html
"Many of the drugs purchased over the Internet are being ordered from Canada. Drugs are cheaper in Canada; they often sell for as little as half of U.S. price of a given drug. In Canada drug prices are fixed, allowing the government to offer them to Canadian citizens at much lower rates than what U.S. citizens pay at pharmacies. Americans are taking advantage of the lower priced drugs available in Canada without having to travel there to get their prescriptions."

These two FDA documents certainly have laudable goals but they also contradict each other numerous times.  There are certainly claims made about counterfeit drugs.  No statistics are actually presented, the counterfeit problem may be as bad or worse in the US itself as opposed to Canada.  If the FDA provided hard and simple statistics to back up their case it might be believable.  What we really see is an agency that perhaps is simply not cooperating with the appropriate Canadian Agencies.  It's easier just to pass a law banning all importation from Canadian or any foreign pharmacy; problem solved, not; if it's profitable to counterfeit drugs in Canada it's more profitable here in the US!  The World Health Organization suggests counterfeits exist everywhere, more so in poor countries:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/2003/fs275/en/

These FDA articles also warn against mail order and Internet drug purchases in general.  They do say there are good sources but you have to be very careful.  Here's an FDA reference: http://www.fda.gov/oc/buyonline/default.htm.  But what are our HMOs and employers doing, strongly encouraging us to mail order our medications because it's cheaper.  Merck has a huge mail order program: www.merck-medco.com ( http://www.medcohealth.com ) , they've since spun off.  One could construe this as a way to cut your local pharmacy out of a lot of income, and, new Medicare benefits are facilitating this.  Certainly this means Merck's profits can go even higher.  But what happens when you need a drug in a hurry?

Here is yet another FDA documented example of counterfeits being shipped by mail order firms right in the US: Counterfiet drugs not from Canadian Pharmacies but U.S. pharmacies.  Imported counterfeit drugs shipped from the US to US citizens, whoops!

I'm sure in most cases the FDA is legitimately hoping to protect US citizens; an example is this list of drugs that are very risky to consider from importers or purchased over the Internet: http://www.fda.gov/oc/buyonline/consumeralert120902.html.

Finally our local US associations I'm sure are trying to protect our interests, the NABP ( National Association of Boards of Pharmacy ): http://www.nabp.net/.  This site loads very slowly so if you look, be patient!  Also the NCPA ( National Community Pharmacists Association ) is obviously concerned about any source of medications other than your local pharmacy.  While they are concerned about quality they have little control over costs!

The Canadian Government's version of the FDA

You start with Health Canada, then proceed to Health Products and Food Branch, there you will find Therapeutic Products Directorate, which seems to facilitate and administer various non-government organizations like NAPRA  ( National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities ) : http://www.napra.org/, and CHPA ( Canadian Public Health Association ) http://www.cpha.ca/english/index.htm.

The CHPA also has an excellent links page documenting many Canadian pharmaceutical information sites and agencies: http://www.bcpharmacists.org/links/#Pharmacy%20Regulatory

The Canadian Pharmacies are trying to protect their interests by establishing the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA): http://www.ciparx.ca/.  You will see their stamp at numerous Canadian Pharmacies.

Finally in Canada, The College of Pharmacists of British Columbia maintains an approved pharmacy list.  In this list in PDF format you will find Newton Pharmacy, represented by Canada Pharmacy is an approved British Columbian pharmacy: BCPharmacists.org  Cmnty_phcy.pdf.

Please see my Canadian pharmacy story for an introduction to the topic of Canadian pharmacies.

And please "drag and drop" this icon to you Favorites or Links bar for all your future visits to Canada Pharmacy.  Thanks, Bob

I'm a satisfied customer of Newton Pharmacy represented by Canada Pharmacy.  When calling 1-800-891-0844 please use Code 1307 and receive $5.00 off your first purchase from Canada Pharmacy or just click the link below