Are Prescriptions Filled Online Safe?
Some websites are completely legitimate. Others send your pills to you in a sandwich bag. The FDA says it has no way to tell the difference, but there are ways that consumers can.
(PRWEB) January 15, 2005
Prescription meds cost far more in the United States than anywhere else in the world because we're the only industrialized nation that doesn't use price controls to hold down costs. Limiting drug prices in this country -- directly or by importing price-controlled medications from elsewhere -- would deprive the pharmaceutical industry of billions in profits and, drug makers contend, stifle the costly research that spawns groundbreaking new medications.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America also has long claimed that imported drugs are unsafe, even though many "U. S.-made" drugs are manufactured overseas. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has mostly ignored U. S. citizens who order personal supplies of medication online, it has sided with drug makers on the safety issue. "We know there are good drugs and bad drugs being sold, but we can't tell you which ones are which," says William Hubbard, the FDA's associate commissioner for policy and planning. "We don't have the regulatory reach."
Advocates of importation tend to dismiss the FDA's safety concerns: "The agency is doing the bidding of the administration and the bidding of the pharmaceutical industry," says Samantha Dobbins, an executive at PillSamples. com (http://www. pillsamples. com (http://www. pillsamples. com)). She adds, "The reality is that, more often than not, generic medications ordered online are a safe, effective, and affordable solution that should be embraced". Indeed, the FDA has sometimes overreached in its warnings about the safety of drugs that come from other countries, but some of the agency's concerns may deserve a closer look.
Patients who fill their prescriptions in Canada sometimes get drugs equivalent to, but not exactly the same as, the drugs they would get at a U. S. pharmacy. In some cases, the difference is in name only: The heartburn and acid-reflux drug called Prilosec in the United States, for example, is called Losec in Canada, but both are the brand-name drug produced by AstraZeneca.
(Prilosec was a popular export to the United States until it became available over the counter here last year)
But patients sometimes receive generic equivalents, such as Zenegra (Sildenafil Citrate) for Viagra from sites like Zenegra. org (http://www. zenegra. org (http://www. zenegra. org)), that are not available or even acknowledged as generics in the United States.
Scare tactics:
Although there are clearly reasons to be cautious about ordering drugs online, the FDA tends to overplay the dangers, which undermines the credibility of its safety warnings. In a three-day "blitz" inspection last year, the FDA intercepted 1,982 packages at mail facilities and courier hubs around the United States. The examinations turned up 1,728 "unapproved" drugs. Unapproved includes all drugs that have been handled outside the FDA's regulatory system, including "foreign versions" of FDA-approved drugs, such as drugs approved by Health Canada. In testimony before Congress in March, however, FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan (who now heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) emphasized the worst offenses, such as "drugs shipped loose in sandwich bags, tissue paper or envelopes," along with controlled substances, steroids and drugs that have been withdrawn from the U. S. market.
The endgame:
The U. S. House of Representatives has already passed legislation to legalize imports for personal use. But even if importation becomes legal, Canada isn't the answer to the larger problem of how to meet the needs of the many Americans who can't afford the drugs that have been prescribed to them. "Canada cannot just be a big drugstore for the U. S.," says David Certner, director of federal affairs for AARP. "Canada is still a small country, and it's not that difficult for the drug industry to limit supply."
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