Sunday, August 17, 2003

From the Contra Costa (CA) Times:
Decision on drug imports looming
Congressional negotiators will decide in closed-door meetings next month whether Americans will be allowed to purchase prescription drugs that sell for lower prices in Canada.

Advocates for permitting the sale of mail-order prescription drugs from Canada, including AARP, say it would enable U.S. consumers to buy their medicines at half price because Canadian price controls keep retail prices relatively cheap.

They argue that American taxpayers already foot the bill for government-funded drug research and shouldn't have to pay so much more for medicines.

From the Salt Lake (UT) Tribune:
Pharmaceutical companies spend lavishly on doctors
Opinion by Dr. Tom Metcalf, pediatrician
"Eight of the nine companies spent more than twice as much on marketing, advertising and administration as they did on R&D. Drug company profits exceeded R&D spending by 60 percent; executive compensation and deferred stock options were huge."

R&D does cost a lot, but the U.S. pharmaceutical companies can well afford both R&D and lower income from their products.

From the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald:
'Intelligent pill' could be on sale in five years
(Editor comment: Not specificially related to Canadian pharmacy, but the article shows that research is being done in Canada, despite price controls.)
An "intelligent pill" that dispenses precise amounts of medicine according to what the body needs could be on sale in five years, say researchers.

The iPill, being developed by Canadian scientists, is an electrical device the size of a small coin containing a micropump and sensors.

Once swallowed, the pill measures the body's temperature and acidity balance at several locations, and responds by delivering more or less medicine from an internal reservoir.

From the Newark (NJ) Star Ledger:
Miami firm tied to web distributing fake Lipitor
Congressional investigators have identified a Florida company as part of the pipeline for counterfeit Lipitor, the cholesterol medicine that was the subject of a nationwide recall earlier this year.

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