Same Rhetoric, New State: "Show Me The Evidence"

Response to the FDA's news release pertaining to their consumer information campaign with the California Pharmacists Association to warn against the alleged dangers of imported drugs.

Same Rhetoric, New State: "Show Me The Evidence", says CIPA

The FDA has collaborated with the local California Pharmacists Association in Sacramento, CA. this week in a propaganda sequel to its earlier Illinois campaign. Once again the FDA is repeating the same tired message that "medicine you buy from across the border may be unsafe" but this time CIPA is going to agree with the FDA. In fact, CIPA will suggest that Americans should NOT order from Canada if they are at all in doubt about the safety and quality of their order.

But CIPA, unlike the FDA, will go a step further to try to protect the citizens who do order from Canada, and those that may in the future order from Canada, if nothing else out of pure necessity. If the FDA is not willing to take on the onus to protect its own citizens that exercise their freedom, then CIPA is ethically obliged to fill in the gap. We want to empower consumers to make informed decisions and live better. Not only that, but harming one's customers can be bad for business.

Let your Congressperson know today how you feel about personal re-importation from Canada!

Therefore, CIPA would like to provide all American consumers with the following straightforward advice to guarantee that they are dealing with a licensed, safe and reputable Canadian pharmacy:

• Look for the Provincial Pharmacy License number on the website and call the corresponding Provincial Regulatory Authority to verify the legitimacy of the license. (see www.napra.org <http://www.napra.org/> for a list of the Canadian Provincial Regulatory Authorities)
• Look for a physical address in Canada listed on the website - sometimes in the "About Us" section
• Look for toll free phone numbers - call them and ask to speak to a pharmacist to answer your questions and check prices
• Look for the CIPA Certification Seal as an added verification of quality
• Make sure the pharmacy requires a valid prescription from your doctor - many bogus websites do not require this (i.e. SPAM and pop-up ads)
• Make sure the pharmacy requires your patient medical history or profile be completed before ordering
• Make sure the pharmacy requires a signed Patient Agreement

Following these steps alone will virtually eliminate the chances of purchasing in a "buyer beware" environment. Of course drugs from Canada will be "unapproved" by the FDA because they are actually approved by the Canadian equivalent called the Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate which is an agency within Health Canada. Therefore unapproved by the FDA does not mean unsafe, it just means that the product is destined for another country after being manufactured by the same company and thus will be approved by that country's regulator. Canadians are not succumbing to products from our pharmacies and we deliver the same medication to our U.S. customers in the original manufacturer's container with the tamper-evident seal intact. All approved Canadian products will have a D.I.N. # (Drug Identification Number) and English and French on the label. As with most FDA approved product, Canadian approved product is manufactured in facilities around the world (often in Europe and Puerto Rico) due to labor and tax implications. Therefore, to suggest that Canadian drugs come from "all corners" of the world is actually true but also carries obvious deceptive and derogatory innuendo. Many FDA approved drugs come from the very same plant, yet U.S. consumers are not suspicious of these drugs.

This is merely a campaign that deliberately employs fear tactics to scare consumers to limit their purchases to domestic pharmacies with profit protection being the end goal and result.

In addition, as part of their release, the CPhA's CEO Carlo Michelloti claims "you are also bypassing the pharmacist whose medical training ensures that the patient receives the correct medication in the proper doses" and "When buying medications from a U.S.-based pharmacy, there is a licensed pharmacist who will take the time to perform drug utilization reviews to make sure patients get the right medicines in the right doses. By ordering from foreign sources, you lose this safeguard." While it appears that Mr. Michelloti is well qualified to speak of pharmacy practice in California, he is obviously misinformed about the practice of his colleagues north of the border. The safeguard of patient consultations, accuracy checks, flagged interactions or contraindications and drug utilization reviews are all regular tasks performed by licensed pharmacists in Canadian pharmacies. In fact, when a U.S. patient orders from a licensed Canadian pharmacy, a total of 5 sets of professional eyes will see and verify the accuracy and appropriateness of the prescription (2 physicians and 3 pharmacists). If that same prescription is filled in the U.S., a total of only 2 sets of professional eyes will see that prescription (1 physician and 1 pharmacist). If the patient was a loved one of yours, which system would you trust more?

Finally, CIPA will once again officially ask the FDA to produce any evidence that a single U.S. patient has been harmed after receiving medication from Canada. And furthermore, CIPA requests that the FDA "totally disclose" all of the details of its recent seizure blitz including any chemical analysis of the seized product. The FDA has attempted to malign the Canadian product by using generalizations and blanket statements about untoward attributes that do not apply. This complete lack of scientific method in a study would guarantee rejection from every reputable medical journal in the Western world. So why is it fit for readability by the American public?

CIPA - Canadian International Pharmacy Association
With 35 member pharmacies across Canada, CIPA is the professional association that represents the leading mail-order pharmacies that provide services to U.S. and Canadian patients. CIPA's members serve uninsured, underinsured and low-income patients in all 50 states. Before patronizing these pharmacies, many customers had been unable to afford their medications. To contact CIPA, visit www.ciparx.com

Forward media inquiries to:
David MacKay
Executive Director
Canadian International Pharmacy Association
400-250 McDermot Ave.
Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada
R3B 0S5

Office Direct Line: (204) 943-7890
Executive Assistant: (204) 943-7912
Fax: (204) 943-7926
Cell: (204) 955-3714
e-mail: dave.mackay@ciparx.ca