OT: Canadian Pharmacy

[mnoble485]

There is a lot of varied knowledge here so I thought I would seek some. My wife has been prescribed a medication that brought tears to my eyes when my I was told the cost of 700.00 per month. I began looking for alternatives and looked at Canadian Pharmacies. The savings were amazing at about one third the cost. Hs anyone used these? Any cautions? Just don't know much about this.

Thanks,
Mike

[buddybikes]

I use northwest pharmacy in vancouver (google them) for rifaximin - an antibiotic found highly effective for IBS D, and diabetes bacterial overgrowth. However insurance doesn't cover --- price is about 13.00 pill. Generic is about 1.30 pill through them, had my dr fax the script and no problem. Of course there are tons of "canadian pharmacies" that are questionable, get a brick and mortar store that you can verify. no problems with shipment.

[bargainguy]

If there is a generic equivalent, this is one of the cheapest Canadian pharmacies I've found:

http://www.globalpharmacycanada.com/

Still need a valid Rx etc. Drugs are sourced from India but not a problem with anything I've ordered there.

[John H.]

I took that same pill. It was like $1500 to fill a prescription in USA. And as you mentioned, insurance would not cover it.
Did rifaximin work for you? I took 2 courses of it- it only made me weaker and sicker.
Switching to a diet that lower blood acidity worked wonders for me. All organic, gluten-free, low sugar.
Most fruits and things with fructose in them were the worst culprits for me. Especially energy foods and recovery foods for cycling.
If you can heal your gut, you can eventualy go back to a somewhat normal diet.

[buddybikes]

looked at prices and the place in vancouver is lot cheaper, make sure you get an account, then free shipping.

What dosage were you prescribed? NIH study had 550mg 3x day. Google studies done.., My doc gave a script for 700 200mg tablets so they said I can take it for multiple weeks in a row.

Yes it has worked, i was prescribed flagyl before and that stuff was damn awful, metal taste the second started to ending.

My case could very well be from other meds I was on, but yes the rifaximin helped without side effects. My daughter carried some to South Africa, and needed it, it is first line treatment for montazuma's revenge.

[gasman]

I'd be careful with Canadian pharmacies unless they are brick and morter. Analysis done of online drugs showed they basically were never the drug they were supposed to be. Usually placebo, sometimes potentially dangerous herbs.

[John H.]

It is true that many of them ship from India in a plain wrapper.

[John H.]

Don't remember, but it was the high dose. I took it for 2x 3 week courses.
Yes, in many countries it is what they prescribe for Montezuma's revenge.


looked at prices and the place in vancouver is lot cheaper, make sure you get an account, then free shipping.

What dosage were you prescribed? NIH study had 550mg 3x day. Google studies done.., My doc gave a script for 700 200mg tablets so they said I can take it for multiple weeks in a row.

Yes it has worked, i was prescribed flagyl before and that stuff was damn awful, metal taste the second started to ending.

My case could very well be from other meds I was on, but yes the rifaximin helped without side effects. My daughter carried some to South Africa, and needed it, it is first line treatment for montazuma's revenge.

[mnoble485]

Thanks for the feedback. Northwest has a huge Internet presence and a good price on what I need. Question for Gasman is how do you know if they are brick and mortar?

Mike

[djg]

Thanks for the feedback. Northwest has a huge Internet presence and a good price on what I need. Question for Gasman is how do you know if they are brick and mortar?

Mike

Drive there? There are, of course, many actual pharmacies in Canada, subject to their own pharmacy regulations, and although the US and Canadian pharmacopeias are not identical, they do overlap a great deal. For certain branded products, prices available north of the border are substantially lower. But many internet vendors that advertise themselves as Canadian are no such thing -- either just pass-through entities for Asian businesses selling who-knows-what or they just have a Canadian-styled web site. What you should do about assessing any particular facts about the markets or firms, and the regulations, and about federal law, in light of any particular family situation, is complicated and not something on which I can offer advice. But the question seems like a good question.

[jet sanchez]

I'd be careful with Canadian pharmacies unless they are brick and morter. Analysis done of online drugs showed they basically were never the drug they were supposed to be. Usually placebo, sometimes potentially dangerous herbs.

Yup, someone already mentioned India but scammers in China are in on the act and I am sure there are some Nigerians in the mix too. Brick and mortar shops would likely have a phone number with a proper Canadian area code but nowadays even a phone number can probably be copied.

I would just call up the Northwest one that stevenandbarb1 uses and have them ship it to you. The couple of extra bucks in shipping is worth the peace of mind.

[oldpotatoe]

There is a lot of varied knowledge here so I thought I would seek some. My wife has been prescribed a medication that brought tears to my eyes when my I was told the cost of 700.00 per month. I began looking for alternatives and looked at Canadian Pharmacies. The savings were amazing at about one third the cost. Hs anyone used these? Any cautions? Just don't know much about this.

Thanks,
Mike

Isn't Joaquim, often on this forum, a pharmacist?

Ask him.

[buddybikes]

1. 3 orders from them - approx 12 days to get
2. Order comes with a prescription label just like good ole USA
3. If you create a login, it will reprice with many items free shipping
4. have physically spoken to the pharmacist, as my script didn't 100% match their generic. My doc rewrote the script before they would release it.

note: the med I got was from india, however came with complete packaging

..just my experience, on one med that I needed but US prices/insurance wouldn't work. A friend just had knee replacement, doctor wants him on celebrex for a while, as he's been sent to the ER 2 times. Insurance denied. So he is going same route as I did.

[Willy]

I have been using Northwestpharmacy.com with good results. Generic meds come from India through Germany and take 2.5 weeks.

[phcollard]

I have been using Northwestpharmacy.com with good results. Generic meds come from India through Germany and take 2.5 weeks.

This one says Cannot find server or DNS Error Internet Explorer

A generic IE error message, which is strange as I'm on Firefox on Mac.

I say this site has been taken down?

[buddybikes]

just worked here in snowy new england.

[gasman]

Thanks for the feedback. Northwest has a huge Internet presence and a good price on what I need. Question for Gasman is how do you know if they are brick and mortar?

Mike

Visit them if you are up there, find someone who has used them or call them. Not sure how to be certain other than visit them at some point but that does defeat the money savings.

[mnoble485]

Visit them if you are up there, find someone who has used them or call them. Not sure how to be certain other than visit them at some point but that does defeat the money savings.

Living in central Florida prevents a Sunday trip across the border! I will PM a few of you for advice. I am not sure if this speaks to my health insurance, big Pharm or our health system but that is another thread I don't want to get into.

Thanks ,
Mike

[Willy]

http://www.northwestpharmacy.com/

I just checked it and no problem with the site.

[jlyon]

I am digging up this old thread to see if anyone has any new online pharmacy recommendations.

My local grocery store wants $1,200 for one small tube of Denavir and I can get 3 delivered from Canada for $85.

Seems crazy and I see why America will never have universal healthcare if we would have to pay drug prices several times higher than other countries.

[jlwdm]

Don't forget though that here you pay the cost to develop the drug and more importantly the potential liability in selling the drug.

Jeff

[Ken Robb]

Some of the high prices are due to arcane regulations for selling vs. purchasing. The VA is free to negotiate for big discounts on drugs and other supplies due to their volume. OTOH Medicare is not allowed to negotiate the same way or piggyback on the VA purchases and get the same prices so Medicare pays a lot more for the same stuff.

[2LeftCleats]

While it's true there are development and legal costs big pharma has to recoup, the real reason they charge so much is because they can. Much basic research is underwritten by taxpayers. Advertising expense to create a demand out of proportion to actual need accounts for a lot of the cost and is often on par with development costs. See ads for hepatitis C? It's absolutely true that there's a huge number of us with undiagnosed hepatitis, which can lead to significant disability and high societal costs. But at $1000/pill--$90,000per treatment course--it's very lucrative for drug companies. And Medicaid--i.e. you and I--get stuck with the bill.

Sorry to derail. I'll step off the soapbox.

[RFC]

You might also want to check out some of the online pharmacies in India. India has a huge and legitimate generic drug industry doing millions of dollars of business in the US. Two MD friends recommended alldaychemist.com. I have placed several orders without any problems.

[Dana Kilalps]

See the book An American Sickness for insights on how the drug industry works.

[RFC]

See the book An American Sickness for insights on how the drug industry works.

Oh, I couldn't agree more. The American drug system is all f**ked up, thanks to the lobbies.

Pharma and Biotech law are among my leading specialties and I see this all the time!

[HillDancer]

Here are two I have experience with: https://www.canadadrugs.com/ and http://www.canadadrugcenter.com/. Both offer price matching. Whichever online pharmacy you choose, this is a valuable resource, https://www.pharmacychecker.com/