OTC Claritin is going to cost me approximately $1 per day. I found an online source in Canada that sells generic Claritin, 72 for $30 U.S. dollars. Are Canadian generics as safe as U.S. generics? I would assume so, but thought I’d ask before I buy.
Yes, it is the same. Basically, the manufacturer of Claritin (Schering-Plough) sells the drug at different prices to different countries for economic reasons. So basically, you are getting ‘gray market drugs’. They are basically hoping that people won’t cross borders to take advantage of the price difference. We have the same thing here in San Diego where people have buses that take all the old folks across the border to get their meds at mexican pharmacies where the prices are even cheaper than Canada for some medications (Nexium comes to mind as a big one I hear about a lot).
And if all you want is Claritin which is now OTC, I definitely wouldn’t worry about it. Go nuts. Even with prescription drugs you are fine, and many places don’t even require a prescription…
If you go to Walgreens in the U.S., you can get a bottle of generic Claritin (100 count) for less then .50 cents a pill. But it is kept behind the counter, so ask the pharmacy staff.
As Yarster said, the “Canadian” drug is the “American” drug. They were probably made at the same factory, even the same batch, just different packaging and shipping. This is why attempts on the part of FDA mouthpieces to try to whip up support for anti-cross-border pharmaceutical sales measures have all fallen flat. Some companies are now blackmailing Canadian distributors, but there are a few US Congressmen who are starting to get grumpy about that.