Canada caught in pharmaceutical
Canadian pharmacist associations and a couple of Canadian-based health advocacy groups have joined large pharmaceutical companies to interrupt, if not stop, the $ 2 billion or more flow of discounted FDA approved prescriptions into the United States by both squeezing supply and attempting to scare the Canadian public into believing a drug shortage is imminent.
Nathan Jacobson, President and CEO of Israel’s first, full-service online pharmacy wants Americans and Canadians to know, “We are your ally in this David and Goliath battle between disadvantaged consumers and the big pharmaceutical companies. Israel is a safe, dependable and secure source of FDA approved, quality, discounted prescription medications that are tamper-proof and counterfeit resistant.”
Last week, top multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly and Pfizer made presentations to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Drug Importation. Today the Task Force will hear from members of the public including a group of health advocates from Canada.
Eli Lilly, among the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, sent a company representative, self-described as an ex-FBI agent, to Washington to give testimony on the alleged counterfeiting of prescription drugs. Lilly’s agent told American legislators three outrageous things:
1. That Eli Lilly is directly involved in raids on American businesses;
2. That Eli Lilly has mapped a global illicit drug network throughout Asia, India and into Canada; and
3. That Eli Lilly has access to proof that Canadian Internet pharmacies are being used as fronts for crime syndicates and terrorist networks.
The testimony came days after Lilly sent letters and warnings to Canadian pharmacists and pharmacy distributors demanding specific details on all volume orders. In that letter, the company notes, “Lilly Canada products are approved, labelled and distributed for Canadian use and are not for export.” An Industry Canada profile on the pharmaceutical industry, in which Eli Lilly is one of the largest players, states clearly that the sector exports billions of dollars in products around the globe.
Pfizer’s representative described himself as having come from the FBI’s Senior Executive Service. He talked about counterfeiting taking place within the U.S.A. and threats beyond the borders. Pfizer’s testimony highlighted that Lipitor is the most prescribed pharmaceutical product for reduction of cholesterol in the world. During 2003, according to Pfizer, 68,958,000 prescriptions for Lipitor were written in the U.S. alone. In the first six months of 2003, Pfizer received six U.S. consumer complaints about product purchased in Canada that seemed ineffective. Most of the world’s supply of Lipitor is made in Ireland.
Some Canadian-based health advocates want the Canadian government to ban cross border Internet pharmacies. “As more and more pharmaceutical drugs are shipped to the U.S., there aren’t enough drugs left in Canada to meet the needs of Canadians,” stated Louise Binder, Chair of the Canadian Treatment Action Council, in a media release.
The pharmaceutical companies are trying to limit supply of drugs to Canada. They are also lobbying the Canadian government, and they are raising supply concerns from organizations such as the Pharmacy Alliance for Canadians and the Coalition for Manitoba Pharmacy causing them to warn Canadians, “At the rate that diversion (to the United States) is going up, these guys and their pharmacies won’t be able to be the finger in the dike for very much longer.”
Canada, like Israel, is becoming a center of pharmaceutical R&D excellence accounting for a significant amount of global new medicines discovered. Yet, the major pharmaceuticals have joined forces to warn Americans that drugs coming into the United States from Canada and countries such as Israel may be unsafe and may be counterfeit. U.S. Senators and Governors have declared such scare tactics unconscionable.
MagenDavidMeds uses FDA and European Union standard – approved facilities, Israeli-licensed Pharmacists, Physician-approved prescriptions, and a North American customer support center. The company does not distribute narcotics, controlled substances or habit-forming medications of any kind.
Israel and the United States have a Free Trade Agreement dating back to 1985. This Free Trade Agreement is consistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and eliminates the duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce on trade, including parallel import of pharmaceutical products.
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