Well there’s yet another med that was relatively cheap and recently replaced with the Rolls Royce model.
This is getting so old.:mad:
Probably in the wrong forum.
But yeah, a few years back my insurer didn’t want to cover Abilify or Lamictal. Saved hundreds of buckazoids/month going through Canada.
Yes. Send me a pm for a recommendation.
About a decade ago I was without prescription drug coverage and I used The Canadian Drug Store with good results and no problems. While I haven’t used them recently, the fact that they are still around after 10 years at least makes them worthy of a look.
J.
The Canadian mail-order pharmacies used to do a rip-roaring business. Many US stakeholders tried to describe them as “shady”, “you don’t know what you are getting”, etc. In fact, it’s the same as every other business. There are fly-by-nights, and there were some very large companies that made a killing selling real medicine (yes!) at Canada’s lower prices.
In response to US pressure, though, most have been cracked down on and went out of business; first they were threatened for giving controlled pharmaceuticals without the prescription of a licensed Canadian physician. When some then ran every prescription by a Canadian doctor, the doctor was threatened with discipline for not actually examining the patient before approving a prescription.
Not sure what current legaility and rules are on mailing or returning from Canada with a 6 month supply of drugs, but I have heard that some people get the 3rd degree. If you can figure out how to import from a legit supplier, good for you. It’s the same drugs. Many provinces have rules that the pharmacist can substitute the generic unless the doctor specifically wrote not to on the prescription. Because the vast majority of drugs are bought by the provincial health authorities, they have negotiated significantly lower costs.
I don’t think that provincial health authorities are responsible for purchasing the vast majority of drugs, though they certainly do purchase some for use in hospitals, as well as negotiating and regulating price of sale and dispensing fees. Otherwise, pharmaceuticals are purchased by drugstores, who may be able to negotiate even lower prices based on an economy of scale (e.g. Shopper’s Drug Mart, Wal-Mart, etc.)
Canada is fortunate in that two of the world’s biggest generic manufacturers, Apotex and Novopharm, are based in Canada. Both export to other countries, including the US; and both have a good reputation for providing reputable, quality products. At any rate, between the provincial regulations and local manufacturing, prices are kept prices down on prescriptions, as well as on low-cost off-the-shelf and OTC pharmaceuticals.
Before I was on Medicare I went for 15 years without health insurance, and bought all my more expensive drugs from Canada Drugs. Now, even though I’m now on Medicare, with supplemental insurance, I still get two of my meds from them. The reason is that last year, getting these drugs “in the system,” along with all the others I use, their cost pushed me into the Medicare “doughnut hole,” and wound up costing me more in the long run. It’s actually cheaper to get them from Canada, entirely at my own expense.
I have order a couple of things through a “Canadian pharmacy”. Both times the items were shipped from India and despite paying for expedited shipping, it still took a month or more to arrive after ordering.
Yes, there’s a whole collection of reasons, some of which I don’t recall the exact details. When Canada revamped it’s drug patent laws about 15 years ago, in return for extending the protection (from 17 to 20 years, I think) they also negotiated deals with the large pharmaceutical companies to reduce prices. All medication dispensed in hospitals is covered by and purchased by the provincial medicare system. Having some very large generics makers locally, plus being a smaller thus less important market than the USA, the drug companies decided to go with lower prices for more years of sales.
yes, a few years ago I had a script for Lamisil and it had just come out on the US market. Insurance didn’t cover it and it was insainley expensive. I did a Google search for a Canadian pharmacy, faxed my script and got the drug in about a week. It ended up costing me around $80, when buying it here would have cost $300. The drug worked the way it was supposed to, no problems. Unfortunately, all of my current scripts are for narcotic type drugs and they can’t be filled via a Canadian supplier or I would still be using them.
This is the other problem with using the internet… are they who they say they are?
A legit Canadian business hould have a Canadian address and phone number, and for something as critical as pharmaceuticals, it should not be reticent about giving that information out. Then again, there’s Google for reputation analysis, but watch for astroturfing, a series of fake entries all over designed to make it look like a lot of people are independently recommending this business…
I realize it’s not quite the same as a pharmacy for humans, but I’ve had good results with buying the anti-flea/tick/heartworm stuff for my dogs from a Canadian vet pharmacy.
What still amazes me that the medication was made by Pfizer in the USA and then it’s shipped to Australia. I place my order with the Canadian company and the stuff is shipped from Australia back to me in America, all in less time than it usually takes to get an appointment scheduled with my vet, and definitely for far less than the vet charges.
When my insurance company dropped Lipitor I went to Canada for it. The real thing cost less there than the didn’t-work-so-well alternatives I got here (even through my insurance co.). I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the quality of the product and/or are you getting the real thing. Mine is shipped in Pfizer packaging. Can’t speak for other companies, but I’ve never had a problem with www.northwestpharmacy.com.