White Plains, New York – April 23, 2012 – Today's main Op-Ed article in the New York Times, "The Wrong Way to Stop Fake Drugs," calls for the legalization of personal drug importation from credentialed international online pharmacies, such as those approved by PharmacyChecker.com or the Canadian International Pharmacy Association. The author, Roger Bate, a resident scholar at American Enterprise Institute, offers evidence-based, compassionate approaches to help uninsured/underinsured Americans obtain medication at affordable prices and to reduce the threat of counterfeit medication domestically and abroad. Bate writes that our government's current policy of technical criminalization and scaring Americans away from safe international online pharmacies causes Americans to go out without needed medication.
Dr. Bate notes that among the medications purchased from pharmacies certified by PharmacyChecker.com, all passed quality-control tests in his research. "This puts to rest the rhetoric from the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA that buying drugs from foreign pharmacies online is too dangerous when, in fact, credentialed international online pharmacies are a lifeline of affordable and safe medication," says Tod Cooperman, MD, President of PharmacyChecker.com. "We hope more news and editorial coverage is given to this topic and that legislative action occurs to bring Dr. Bate's proposals to fruition."
According to research from the Commonwealth Fund, 48 million Americans forgo medication due to cost. Yet, Americans can potentially save over 80% on the cost of brand name medication when using foreign pharmacies approved by PharmacyChecker.com. A 3-month supply of the popular asthma product Advair Diskus, for example, costs $947.97 at a pharmacy in New York City but as little as $149.00 from an international online credentialed by PharmacyChecker.com. This and other drug price comparisons are shown below:
| Drug Prices for 3-Month Supply of Popular Brand Name Medications | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Pharmacy* | Credentialed Foreign Pharmacy** | 3-Months Savings | Percent Savings | One Year Savings | |||||||
| Lipitor 20 mg | $620.97 | $78.70 | $542.27 | 87.33% | $2,169.08 | ||||||
| Plavix 75 mg | $773.97 | $88.82 | $685.15 | 88.52% | $2,740.59 | ||||||
| Nexium 20 mg | $606.89 | $44.89 | $562.00 | 92.60% | $2,247.99 | ||||||
| Abilify 10 mg | $2,189.97 | $340.93 | $1,849.04 | 84.43% | $7,396.17 | ||||||
| Advair Diskus 250-50mcg (3inhalers) | $947.97 | $149.00 | $798.97 | 84.28% | $3,195.88 | ||||||
| Average: | $1,027.95 | $140.47 | $887.49 | 86.34% | $3,549.94 | ||||||
| *U.S. bricks-and-mortar pharmacy in New York City; data collected April 14th, 2012. **Lowest price online pharmacy on www.pharmacychecker.com on April 23rd, 2012. |
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PharmacyChecker.com urges Americans to join RxRights.org, a non-profit group dedicated to protecting their access to safe personal drug importation from credentialed online pharmacies. Through RxRights.org, Americans can tell their elected leaders that laws should be passed that encourage, rather than discourage, needy people to buy medications from online foreign pharmacies.
Founded in 2002 by Tod Cooperman, M.D. to help Americans find the best drug prices from verified online pharmacies, PharmacyChecker.com's pharmacy ratings and drug price comparisons are free to consumers. PharmacyChecker.com, based in New York, is privately held with no ownership in or from companies that sell or distribute pharmacy products.
