Archive for June 2017
STAT black market importation policy recommendation based in rhetoric, not facts
The most recent editorial in Stat advocating black market drug importation under the guise of “ordering prescription drugs abroad” overlooks many safety dangers. The most important oversight is in the characterization of the cost of medications. Over 80% of all medications dispensed in the U.S. are dispensed as generic, and generics as a whole are…
[...]North Carolina Secretary of State Wants You to Know about the Dangers Posed by Fake Online Pharmacies
In a new program for North Carolina, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has set up a public awareness campaign for her state that allows North Carolinians to check whether the online pharmacy they want to purchase from is genuine, the News & Observer reports. Dubbed “Verify Before you Buy,” the new program aims to protect…
[...]Health Policy Expert Declares Drug Importation “Unsafe, Unnecessary and Unwise”
This editorial was published by the Institute for Policy Innovation on June 5, 2017. Its author, Dr. Merrill Matthews, is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a health policy expert and contributor at Forbes.com. He also serves on the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
[...]A Conspiracy of Warm Boxes: The Story of Canadian Drug Wholesaler SB Medical and their Disregard for Patient Safety
The case against Canadian drug importer SB Medical/TC Medical Group is one of the largest prosecutions of its kind. In 2015, the company and four of its employees were sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy and misbranded prescription pharmaceutical charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ press release at the time…
[...]American Pharmacists Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores urge Trump to reject drug importation proposals
On June 1, 2017, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), which represents 64,000 pharmacy professionals, and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), which represents more than 100 national and regional pharmacy chains, sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him not to support legislation that would allow broad personal and commercial importation of non-FDA approved prescription drugs.
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