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Buying Drugs Overseas

August 23, 2009

Due to the high value of prescription drugs, many Americans corrupt their medications from extraneous pharmacies by intersection the border into Canada and Mexico, or when they travel to another external country. Many direction medications are not so much expensive in foreign countries, and more medications that require a custom in the U.S. are available over-the-counter in other countries.

Why Are prescription Drug Prices Lower in Other Countries?

Some foreign governments, such as those in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, control the greatest amount that can be charged for prescription medications, what one. holds prostrate medicine prices.

The U.S. government does not control prices for usage medications and allows drug companies to compete plainly. In the U.S., the costs of researching, developing, and advertising new brand remembrance medications are passed to customers since division of a medication’s worth.

Additionally, since people in the U.S. are more likely to sue than people in other countries, some of the cost of prescription medications in the U.S. is due to lawsuits against drug companies.

Although brand-name medications may subsist 25% to 50% less expensive in some strange countries, generic drugs are often less expensive in the U.S. This is for the cause that there is strong competition in the U.S. among companies that cause generic drugs.

Are the drugs I Buy in a Foreign Country Safe?

Medications you buy in a foreign country may subsist of the corresponding; of like kind quality as those you buy in the U.S. In fact, your prescription medications may have been manufactured in the U.S. Moreover, some medications sold in this nation have been made in American-owned factories located in other countries.

However, you cannot tell if a drug is trusty just by looking at it. If the medication is spurious, has a different potency, has not been stored fitly, or is not labeled correctly, you are at risk of grave health problems.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is concerned that drugs you buy outside the U.S. may present the following health risks:

  • Some imported medications may have been made using unsafe procedures.
  • Some imported medications are fake.
  • Some imported medications may not have been checked for safety or effectiveness.
  • Some imported medications may subsist addictive or employment risky ingredients.
  • An imported medication may not have accusation for treating side personal estate.
  • The medication’s label, instructions, and list of possible side effects may be in a speech you do not understand.
  • The label of some imported medications may constitution claims or suggest uses that take not been approved.
  • Some imported medications are not safe when taken independently of adequate curative supervision.

Can I Bring Prescription Drugs I Buy in a Foreign Country into the U.S.?

The FDA regulates direction drugs made in the U.S. Under federal regulation it is unlicensed for anyone except a drug manufacturer to import prescription drugs into the U.S.

These laws were established to protect consumers and to make sure that the solely medications available in the U.S. have been produced by the agency of drug companies approved by the FDA and at locations inspected by dint of. the ruling power.

Additionally, the FDA does not allow the re-importation of medications. For archetype, if a drug company makes an FDA-approved prescription drug and sends that drug to a pharmacy in Canada, it is against the law for you to buy that drug in Canada and accompany it outer part into the U.S.

Does the FDA Always Enforce the Drug Importation Laws?

The FDA does not everlastingly enforce regulations in the place of importing prescription drugs and has issued guidelines entitled Coverage of Personal Importations. This policy is not a law or a regulation, on the contrary serves while a guide because FDA personnel and, at their discretion, U.S. Customs agents at U.S. borders.

Under these guidelines, the FDA may acknowledge an single entering the U.S. to import a 90-day supply of every unapproved drug if all of the following conditions are met:

  1. The intended use of the medication is for a serious condition for which effectual treatment may not have being suitable in the U.S.
  2. The medication will not be sold by dint of. the person bringing the medication into the U.S.
  3. The medication is considered not to represent every unreasonable hazard.
  4. The individual seeking to bring the medication into the U.S. affirms in chirography that the drug is for the his or her possess practice and provides the name and address of the doctor licensed in the U.S. responsible as being his or her treatment with the medication; or, the individual provides evidence that the medication is for the sake of the continuation of a manipulation begun in a foreign country.

Some Tips from Dr. Mike:

  • If you choose to buy medications in a foreign country, do more research before you move. Learn how to ascertain to be the same a properly licensed pharmacy in the country you visit.
  • Be aware of the FDA’session drug importing guidelines.
  • Avoid buying medications in countries that do not carefully regulate pharmacies. For example, the medication regulations are much stronger in Canada than in Mexico.
  • Do not buy medications from street vendors.
  • Before buying medications in a foreign land, make stable you be under the necessity explored your require to be paid saving options at home. For example, your learned man may have being able to twig you to a generic medication, which may be cheaper to bribe in the U.S.

    • Reading Suggestions from Dr. Mike

    The make submissive of buying medications in foreign countries and bringing them back into the U.S. is controversial and complex. The following articles attentive an in-depth look at the issues involved:

    • Drug Reimportation: The Free Market Solution
    • Drug Reimportation Practices in the United States
    • The Prescription Drug Importation Issue and its Implications for Cost Containment
    • The Mexican Connection: Is it safe?

    Written by Samanta · Filed Under Drug News