With nostalgia, I’m announcing that PharmacyCheckerBlog will no longer be updated with new posts effective today. If you’re looking for similar news, analysis, and editorial efforts, check out PolicyPrescription.com. Over 20 years ago, pharmacies in Canada began selling prescription drugs to Americans over the Internet. PharmacyChecker.com opened its virtual doors in 2003 to provide consumers, mostly in America, with information that helps them find the most affordable and safe prescription drugs from online pharmacies, including those located in Canada and other countries. This made the pharm ..read more

For the benefit of consumers, I published a longish but straightforward explanation of the state wholesale drug importation bills, laws, and programs and how they differ from personal importation. I reviewed the drug relabeling section of Florida’s Drug Importation Program submission to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and it really tells a story. Many if not most of the drugs that states propose to import from Canada are not made in Canada or the U.S. Both countries import a majority of their pharmaceuticals. They often come from the same countries and factories and are the e ..read more

These are unique times we’re living in, so before I criticize this guy for his Big Pharma love, I feel compelled to hand him a well-earned compliment: Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) acted heroically in voting to impeach former President Trump in the wake of the violent January 6th assault on Congress. Whether or not you agree with Burr’s vote, history shows politicians rarely cross the aisle to impeach someone in their own party. Senator Burr’s vote was courageous. I stand by that even though he decided not to run for re-election in 2022. People (like me) often accuse politicians of carrying wate ..read more

Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice Professor Stephen Salant. Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Michigan This week, I’m proud to announce that I teamed up with Stephen Salant, PhD, professor emeritus of economics to the University of Michigan, to write an op-ed called “The one-two punch to knock out high drug prices.” Professor Salant was also an economist with the Federal Reserve Board and the Rand Corporation. Our article, published today in The Hill, recommends legislation and regulatory reforms that would promote safe prescription drug impor ..read more

With lies and deception, Big Pharma has used the threat posed by rogue websites and counterfeit drugs to push back against U.S. state legislation to gain access to lower drug prices in Canada. Regardless, several states have passed laws toward creating importation programs: Colorado, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Vermont. Simple summary: Canada’s brand drugs are priced much lower and states want access to them. These state laws have largely been confined to wholesale drug importation. That is, until this week when California Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager introduced the Afford ..read more

Original post found on PharmacyChecker.com. The Rand Corporation has released an impressive study showing that brand name drugs cost far more in the United States than in other countries – on average 344% more. For those of you looking for a methodologically strong analysis of international drug prices and a history of related studies, this is the report for you. In looking at all drugs, brand and generic, the percentage goes down to 256%. That’s because, as the report shows, generic drugs in the U.S. were found to be priced at 86% of those in other countries. The report was based on drug pric ..read more

This week, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing issued a request for proposals, called an Invitation to Negotiate, to operate a state wholesale drug importation program as permitted under federal law and the administrative final rule issued by HHS last year, referred to as the Section 804 rule.  Colorado’s proposal request is chock full of details, with many regulatory and legal issues addressed, quite ably predicting pushback from drug companies who virulently oppose importation. Notably, it addresses the Canadian government’s valid concerns about new drug importat ..read more

Drug importation, by which I mean the process of buying much less expensive and equally safe prescription drugs from other countries, may see more sunlight under the Biden administration. For many drugs, the prices are frequently 90% less in other countries. Biden included drug importation among several policies he plans to pursue to lower drug prices. There’s momentum on drug importation from the Trump administration in the form of: An executive order calling for drug importation A final rule by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow wholesale importation from Canada A request for pr ..read more

For someone who believes that Donald Trump’s actions, especially recent ones, have threatened the core of our democracy, it’s difficult to admit that the Twitter ban against him strikes a nerve with me. Getting right to the point: in the summer of 2018, Instagram shut down PharmacyChecker’s account. PharmacyChecker, which I co-founded in 2002, is a small, independently-funded online pharmacy verification and drug price comparison website. One of its claims to fame is providing information for consumers that can help them safely obtain lower-cost prescription drugs from other countries. Pharmac ..read more

This week the prices of over 500 drugs went up in America, according to drug price transparency non-profit organization 46Brooklyn. This happens every year, usually coinciding with shouts of anger and disgust with the pharmaceutical industry’s greed. The shouts are muted this year, probably because, like it or not, we’re counting on Big Pharma to manufacture enough Covid-19 vaccines to end the pandemic. But the battle against high drug prices continues. Godspeed. The median price increase reported was 4.6%, slightly lower than last year’s increase but about eight times the estimated inflation ..read more