U.S. seizing prescription drugs from Canada

The U.S. government is seizing prescription drugs that arrive from Canada. More than one million Americans fill their prescriptions by mail through Canada.

The Food and Drug Administration says it seizes prescription drugs that arrive from other countries because it can't guarantee their safety even though many are shipped from the U.S. to Canada by their U.S. manufacturers before being returned to USA patients in their original containers.

Canadian International Pharmacy Association general mananger Steven Smith said that his group dispenses only medicine approved by Health Canada, which regulates them.

Others suggest that the U.S. government is bowing to the powerful pharmaceutical lobby.

This year alone, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there were recalls of some lots of U.S.-made Marcaine, Cefepime, Albuterol Sulfare inhalation solution, Lidocaine, Bupivacaine, carboxymethylcellulose sodium, Estarylla, Enteric coated .81 mg aspirin (aka baby aspirin), Warfarin (oversized tablets, an overdose), Magnesium Sulfare, Methotrexate Sodium, Reumofan Plus tablets (undeclared drug ingredients), Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg tablets (may contain Meclizine HCL 25 mg), Mitosol (mitomycin), compounds for renal patients, pharmaceuticals repackaged by Aidapak, ApotheCure, Clinical Specialities Compounding and Green Valley, and dozens of others over sterility assurance concerns.

Also Avastin syringes and Metoclopramide, Cubicin (Daptomycin), Benztropine Mesylate, Vecuronium Bromide, Piperacillin, Tazobactam, Sodium Chloride, Benztropine Mesylate, Omontys (peginesatide) and Vistide (Cidofovir), Vecuronium Bromide for injection.

Most drugs approved in the U.S. are based on information provided by the pharmaceutical firms from their drug trials. The FDA does little or no testing of drugs before they hit the U.S. market.

BJ newsroom retiree John Olesky, after he hit the dreaded donut hole, saved $1,000 to $1,500 a year by getting his prescriptions from Canada. Prescriptions via that route cost half to one-tenth as much as the identical medication purchased in the United States.

This year, after being among the 50 Composing and Newsroom retirees who won their healthcare lawsuit against the Beacon Journal, Olesky pays only $4 for each 90-day prescription, brand name or generic. Previously, the brand name drugs cost Olesky up to $300 for each prescription once he hit the donut hole.

To read the entire article, click on http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/health/as-drug-costs-rise-bending-the-law-is-one-remedy.html?emc=eta1&_r=0