ABOUT five million Americans buy medication internationally each year because of high costs in the United States. These drugs are considered “foreign unapproved drugs” by the Food and Drug Administration, and federal law makes it illegal to buy them. Generally, though, purchases go through without a hitch. Only rarely do customs agents seize an order.
For almost 15 years big drug companies have vigorously lobbied Congress and the federal government to stop Americans from buying foreign medicines. As part of that lobbying, they have made it seem as if all medications purchased from Canada and other international sources are the same as those that come from websites that sell counterfeit drugs. Even the F.D.A. has made that suggestion. In testimony in February before a House subcommittee hearing to explore the public health threat of counterfeit drugs, Howard R. Sklamberg, a deputy commissioner at the F.D.A., said that foreign unapproved drugs posed the same health risks as counterfeit drugs.
That assertion is just not true and will scare lawmakers and consumers into believing that all imported drugs bought online are dangerous. The “unapproved” drugs are often the exact same ones sold here. Or they’re different brands, or generic versions of domestically sold drugs. Thus, many foreign unapproved drugs — specifically those ordered from licensed pharmacies — are almost always going to be safe and effective, like their United States counterparts, whereas a counterfeit drug will almost always be dangerous. (My company, PharmacyChecker.com, helps Americans find information on obtaining lower-cost medications from Canada and other countries, so I have a financial stake in making sure the public is informed.)
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A much greater public health crisis than counterfeit drugs or tainted domestic and foreign medications is non-adherence to prescribed medication because of cost. CVS pharmacists reported in a survey that drug costs are the No. 1 reason that Americans do not take medications that have been prescribed. The National Consumer League estimates that nearly 125,000 Americans die each year from not taking needed drugs that were prescribed, or not taking them correctly. Fifty million Americans did not fill prescriptions in 2012 because of high drug prices, according to the Commonwealth Fund.
But for drug makers, the overseas ordering means lost profits. In 2003, the drug companies were frustrated by growing numbers of Americans buying cheaper medications from Canada. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America hired the Edelman public relations firm to figure out what to do. Using focus groups, Edelman surveyed Americans and discovered that the federal law was not a deterrent. The industry concluded that the fear of ingesting dangerous or counterfeit drugs would do more to deter people from buying overseas. Since then, the drug companies have tried to play up that risk through public education and media campaigns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/opinion/scare-tactics-over-foreign-drugs.html?_r=0
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