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Buying Drugs Online.
Michael Albano had big budget problems. As mayor of Springfield, Mass., the fourth largest city in New England, Albano faced massive cuts in state aid, forcing him in February 2003 to announce layoffs of more than 300 city workers, including police officers and firefighters.
As father of a 13-year-old boy with type 1 diabetes, Mike Albano also had a personal financial crisis, caused by the skyrocketing cost of his son's daily insulin, needles, and blood sugar testing supplies.
As a partial solution to both problems, Albano did what no other U.S. city leader until then had dared to do: he went to Canada.
In July of 2003, Albano launched an innovative, voluntary program that allows city employees and retirees to purchase maintenance medications -- such as drugs to treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes -- from Canadian suppliers. Because the Canadian government -- like the governments of nearly all industrialized nations except the U.S. -- mandates price controls on medications and limits the prices that Canadian pharmacies can charge, drugs sold in Canada often cost substantially less than the identical medicine sold in the U.S.
He's not alone. By September 2004, one-third of American adults who use prescription drugs said they already buy or intend to buy drugs from online Canadian pharmacies, according to a survey by the Results for America (RFA), a project of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute.
The reason is simple economics. According to the Congressional Budget Office, brand-name drugs on average cost from 35% to 55% less in other industrialized nations than they do in the U.S. The CBO also estimates that if Americans in 2001 could have bought brand-name drugs at Canadian pharmacies, they would have saved more than $38 billion (under the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit, the government is expressly forbidden from negotiating lower drug prices on the behalf of beneficiaries).
As for Springfield, Mass., the city saved more than $3 million in the start-up year, and is on track to save $6 million this fiscal year, Albano says.
Pharmaceutical Outsourcing
In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes earlier this year, former FDA commissioner Mark McClellan said that "under current law we don't have the authority to ensure the safety of foreign-produced, foreign-distributed drugs." He warned that the practice of "drug reimportation," as it's called, violates federal law and puts patients at risk because they can't be sure about the source of the drugs they receive.
But advocates for cross-border drug buying point out that most medications purchased from reputable Canadian or European pharmacies are the identical medications -- brand names as well as generics -- that are available at your local drugstore. In addition, those medicines, including some of the blockbuster drugs advertised on the network evening news programs, may be made not just in North America but also in Europe, South America, the Middle East, or Asia.
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Indication
Uroxatral® (alfuzosin HCl 10 mg extended-release tablets) is an alpha1-blocker for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of BPH.
Important Safety Information
Do not take UROXATRAL if you have liver problems or if you are taking antifungal drugs like ketoconazole or itraconazole, or HIV drugs like ritonavir.
UROXATRAL can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, especially when starting treatment. This may lead to fainting, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Do not drive, operate machinery, or do any dangerous activity until you know how UROXATRAL will affect you. This is especially important if you already have a problem with low blood pressure or take medicines to treat high blood pressure. There may be an increased risk of low blood pressure and fainting when taking UROXATRAL in combination with blood pressure medication or nitrates, or erectile dysfunction medication.
If considering cataract surgery (clouding of the eyes), tell your eye surgeon that you are currently taking UROXATRAL or have previously been treated with an alpha-blocker.
Before taking UROXATRAL, tell your doctor if you have kidney problems.
Also, tell your doctor if you or any family member(s) have or take medications for a rare heart condition known as congenital prolongation of the QT interval.
BPH and prostate cancer can cause the same symptoms. However, UROXATRAL is not a treatment for prostate cancer.
The most common side effects with UROXATRAL are dizziness, upper respiratory tract infection, headache, and tiredness.
Please see UROXATRAL full prescribing information.
VIVELLE-DOT (estradiol transdermal system) IS AVAILABLE BY PRESCRPTION ONLY.
INDICATION
Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or strokes. Using estrogens with or without progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens with progestins may increase your risk of dementia (decline in memory and thinking skills).
Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.
The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.
You and your healthcare professional should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with Vivelle-Dot.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.
