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Internet pharmacy trade on the rise
The Canadian industry continues to
grow despite efforts to diminish it.
TOM COHEN
The Associated Press
June 9, 2003
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Fast-growing Manitoba companies selling
discount drugs from Canada to U.S. customers now have a partner
in their battle with the pharmaceutical giants — local
regulators.
Six months of mediated talks have brought a tentative agreement
between the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association and a group of
Internet pharmacies on acceptable practices for an industry
creating hundreds of jobs in this prairie province north of
Minnesota and North Dakota.
The pact addresses an issue that major drug making companies
have raised as a concern: whether the Canadian pharmacies are
providing proper patient care and quality control.
Manitoba is home to at least 55 of the estimated 150 Canadian
operations estimated to bring in more than $500 million a year
in an expanding and quickly changing industry.
Ronald Guse of the province’s regulatory association said he
expects continued growth despite efforts by GlaxoSmith-Kline and
other pharmaceutical companies to diminish the trade.
“It’s been increasing exponentially and will continue to do so,
not only in Manitoba but throughout much of Canada,” Guse said.
“People keep saying this is going to be slowed or stopped, but I
haven’t seen any indication of that.”
The Canadian operations fill prescriptions from U.S. patients,
capitalizing on the disparity of drug prices and dollar values
between the North American neighbors.
Canada regulates drug prices as part of its national health care
system, while the market dictates pricing in the United States.
Many popular medications for chronic conditions such as high
blood pressure and high cholesterol can be bought in Canada at
less than half the U.S. price.
The business worries pharmaceutical giants like GlaxoSmithKline
Inc., which sell their products for more money in the United
States than in Canada. GlaxoSmithKline has cut supplies to some
Canadian Internet pharmacy operations, saying the medicine it
provides in Canada is prohibited from sale elsewhere.
The supply cuts cause problems, such as customers waiting three
weeks beyond the normal order-filling time to get small
quantities of medicine, said Andrew Yan, chief pharmacist at
Internet pharmacy canadameds.com of Winnipeg.
“Sometimes I’m surprised our customers are putting up with it,”
Yan said. “That just tells me how desperate they are. They just
can’t afford it in the United States.”
He denied the reduced supplies would cause his company to seek
alternatives from countries with less-stringent regulations, a
concern cited by pharmaceutical companies and regulators.
“It’s making it difficult, but no, we would never turn it into
an underground operation,” Yan said.
Such issues prompted Guse’s association to enter mediation with
an association of Manitoba Internet pharmacy operations that
initially rebuffed its regulatory efforts.
A tentative agreement from six months of talks is being
fine-tuned before a ratification vote by the pharmacies
scheduled for June 23. If it is accepted and the Manitoba
legislature passes enabling legislation, the agreement would
give the Manitoba industry a unified, regulated status to
proceed, Guse said.
Provincial officials were expected to support the industry by
passing the legislation.
Guse’s main concern is whether the U.S. patients getting their
medicine from Canada receive proper care. Currently, Internet
operators in Manitoba have Canadian physicians authorize
prescriptions from U.S. doctors.
Under the legal changes required, Manitoba would recognize the
validity of prescriptions from U.S. doctors and its regulators
would get greater powers.
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