Tom Kear Executive Director, PharmNet

A recent study by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shown that by purchasing prescription drugs from Canada, patients may be paying over 800% more than they need to. America’s highly competitive generic prescription drug market is a key to real savings for the American consumer.

Sighting specific examples, the FDA compared U. S. generic prices to Canadian generic and brand prices. Xanax provides an extreme opportunity for savings by buying the U. S. generic version. Purchasing the brand name Xanax in Canada costs over 800% more than the U. S. generic version, while the Canadian generic version costs about 400% more than the U. S. generic version. Significant savings may be realized on numerous drugs including Prozac (Canadian brand name is almost 300% more than the U. S. generic and Canadian generic about 130% more than the U. S. generic) and Vasotec (Canadian brand name is about 500% more than the U. S. generic and generic Enalapril is not even available in Canada).

Safety and efficacy continue to be issues with foreign drugs, in addition to a frequent lack of real savings. Recent action by the FDA against USARXSTORE.com was brought about by the discovery that the “pharmacy” sold counterfeit birth control contraceptive patches that had no active ingredients. These counterfeit contraceptive patches provided no protection against pregnancy. USARXSTORE.com also sold other prescription drugs, apparently without receiving any of those drugs from the manufacturers.

Properly structuring a prescription drug benefit based solely on U. S. supplied pharmaceuticals can provide your employees both a safe and cost effective benefit. The old axiom, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is”, is still of value in today’s world.