Posted by CamW on September 16, 2005, at 21:20:01
In reply to Medications from Canada, posted by KikiCabell on September 13, 2005, at 14:39:33
Kiki - I am a pharmacist from Canada and my karate instructor (sensei) is a drug inspector who's duties include watching over medications going to the U.S.
By Canadian law, a pharmacy is only allowed to fill a prescription from a doctor who holds a medical license from the province in which the prescription is being filled. That means that a doctor who is licensed in Ontario can only have his prescriptions filled in Ontario.
An Alberta Pharmacy cannot legally fill a prescription written by a doctor who is licenced in British Columbia.
So, unless your doctor is licenced in Canada, a Canadian pharmacy cannot fill a prescription written by him/her.
Internet Pharmacies must hire a doctor who takes a prescription (I believe it has to be faxed to the Internet Pharmacy), and the doctor, who has a licence in the province where the Internet Pharmacy is located. The doctor confirms the prescription and rewrites it, so technically it is legal, but ethically......
As for prescriptions between provinces, most pharmacists will honor one refill of a prescription for heart medication, birth control, or other maintenance medication. No pharmacy that I know of would fill a prescription written for a narcotic or control drug.
As for Americans buying our drugs; I do consider it unethical, and since the Internet Pharmacies opened shop, Canadian drug manufactuers cannot keep up with production. So many prescriptions are heading south that we are having trouble getting certain medications for our customers. More than once we have had to use lower doses and double up on heart medication; this ended up costing Canadians more than it should, because the lower dose was more expensive.
The same thing has happened with generic Nitroglycerin Spray. Only the name-brand Nitrolingual™ Spray is available, so our seniors on fixed pensions have to pay $4.50 more for their Nitro Spray, as Blue Cross will only reimburse the generic cost.
I guess I'm whining because the seniors complain to me about it, and there is nothing I can do. I can't believe that U.S. pharmacies are allowing this cross-border shopping. It is a lot of money out of their pockets. I also don't understand why your government doesn't stand up to the multi-national drug companies and allow generics. The old, trite excuse that there would be no R&D (research and development) without 20 to 25 years of patent protection. Generic companies already pay a percentage to the developer. Why don't the Brand companies compete with the generics; with their deep pockets, they should be able to bankrupt any generic company. Hmmmm....
I apologize for whining - Cam
poster:CamW
thread:554696
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050914/msgs/555858.html