Tuesday, November 30, 2004

From the National Post:
Parents of woman who died of adverse drug reaction demand answers
The parents of a 22-year-old nursing student who died two years ago after a doctor's prescription turned deadly went public Monday in their battle to get to the bottom of their daughter's death.

Martha Murray was found dead from a heart attack in September 2002 after she'd been prescribed lithium to treat her bipolar disorder.
From New York Newsday:
Federal government sues to stop importation of drugs from Canada
The U.S. government on Monday asked a federal court to shut down a New York company that allegedly imported prescription drugs from Canada for resale in the United States.

Claire Ruggiero and her daughter-in-law, Christine Ruggiero, introduced drugs to the U.S. market that had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The lawsuit doesn't specify an amount, but the government has asked the court to shut down the Ruggiero's business, Canada Care Drugs, based in Goshen, N.Y.
From the Canadian Press:
Fabry patients fight on after panel urges governments not to cover drug costs
Patients suffering from a devastating and fatal condition known as Fabry disease are vowing to fight on after a drug review panel advised governments across the country not to cover the extraordinarily high cost of the only drugs available to treat them.

"The patients are obviously very, very anxious," says Fabry patient Ed Koning, his voice rising with anger as he discusses the recommendation of the Common Drug Review on the two drugs, Fabrazyme and Replagal.

Monday, November 29, 2004

From the Canadian Press:
Pill shortages hard to swallow, pharmacists say
Drug shortages are approaching epidemic levels in Canada, according to the Canadian Pharmacists Association.

The association says 80 per cent of pharmacists who responded to a poll had experienced supply shortfalls in the previous week - forcing them to buy outside their usual channels and talk to physicians and patients about shifting to equivalent medications.
From the Peoria (IL) Journal Star:
Drug plan slow to catch on
Nearly two months after the introduction of the I-SaveRx prescription drug program, the plan that Gov. Rod Blagojevich likened to a "prairie fire" is barely smoldering. Nearly 1,100 people - out of an estimated 5 million uninsured residents in participating states Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri - have completed enrollment forms and ordered prescription drugs from the program's wholesalers and pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Central Illinois senior citizen advocates point to poor timing and natural caution as reasons for poor sign-up to the program that allows importation of prescription drugs despite federal regulations against the practice.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Fromthe Barrie (Ont.) Advance:
OxyContin quickly becoming a problem in North America
Since its launch in 1996, OxyContin has become North America's most prescribed painkiller.
On the street, where its illicit use grows, it is known as "killer," a term Newmarket's Sandra Norris can attest is only too appropriate.

Norris, a quality-improvement specialist with York Region, looked back to last May 28. It was her 15th wedding anniversary, but it will be forever remembered as the day her nephew, Chad Gardiner, died. He committed suicide, leaping from the top level of a parking garage in London, Ont. He was 26, and addicted to OxyContin.

Friday, November 26, 2004

From the Globe and Mail:
Agency seeks to tighten guidelines
The agency that approves the cost of prescription drugs in Canada wants to tighten its guidelines in the wake of widespread price increases pushed through by the pharmaceutical industry this year.

“I do not want to be alarmist, but I do want to raise an alarm,” Robert Elgie, chairman of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, told a conference of pharmaceutical executives in Toronto earlier this week.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

From the Woonsocket (RI) Call:
Seniors call ‘fowl’ over Canadian drugs
The Gray Panthers of Rhode Island have bestowed their second annual Turkey of the Year award to the Rhode Island Pharmacists Association and the Rhode Island Board of Pharmacy for their resistance to re-importing prescription drugs from Canada.

"We wanted them to work with us and they are not working with us," Panthers President Irene Santos said Wednesday. "They say we can’t buy Canadian drugs because they aren’t safe. What do they think we are, stupid?
From Canada East:
Government programs routinely overpay for prescription drugs: auditor
The federal government is spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars more than necessary for its prescription-drug benefit programs, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser said Tuesday.

The government is the fourth-largest buyer of prescription drugs in the country, behind Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, but doesn't have a policy to buy drugs in bulk or demand generic alternatives to pricier brand names.

On one class of stomach ulcer drug alone, Ottawa could have saved $13 million in 2002-03 had it ensured use of the lowest cost alternative, said the auditor general.
From the Globe and Mail:
Little done to rectify problems, Fraser says
The number of people who obtained 50 or more prescriptions in a three-month period through Health Canada's prescription-drug program has tripled over the past four years even though the issue was raised by the federal Auditor-General in 2000.

That is just one of the many problems with federal drug-benefit plans highlighted in a report released yesterday by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser, who expressed exasperation at the department's inability to rectify the situation.
From the Globe and Mail:
Bone loss could be permanent, contraceptive maker warns
Women using the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera can lose significant bone mineral density, damage that may be irreversible and puts them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis, the drug's maker is warning.

In a letter being sent to health professionals who prescribe the drug, Dr. Bernard Prigent, medical director of Pfizer Canada Inc., said "bone loss is greater with increasing duration and may not be completely reversible."
From the Montreal Gazette :
Danger link gets stronger for heart drug
Health Canada has received more reports of a rare but potentially serious muscle reaction in people taking the anti-cholesterol pill Crestor - a top-selling new drug in Canada that a U.S. drug official has named as one of five drugs that should be looked at more closely.

As of August 31, five more cases of rhabdomyolysis - a breakdown in muscle tissue that can lead to kidney damage - had been reported in Crestor users since Health Canada advised Canadians in June of a possible link between Crestor and the muscle-wasting condition.

From the Providence (RI) Journal:
Pharmacies ask Lynch to block imports
The Rhode Island Pharmacists Association and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores yesterday called on Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch to formally intervene in the state's attempt to license Canadian pharmacies to do business in Rhode Island.

The groups called the legislation passed this year "controversial and illegal" under federal law. They said Lynch should take action due to concerns about who would vouch for the safety and efficacy of any imported medication.

The state Department of Health is drafting regulations to put the licensing law into effect early next year, but a top health official has said the state expects the matter to be challenged in court before that.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

From the Pawtucket Times:
Lynch calls on FDA for clear drug regulations
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is "shirking its responsibilities" by failing to adopt regulations to allow the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada as Congress has directed it to, Attorney General Patrick Lynch said Thursday.

"Congress already passed legislation saying that they should move on it," Lynch said. "They are putting it off on the states. It puts everyone in an awkward position. It puts people at risk. We need regulations."

Saturday, November 20, 2004

From the Boston Globe:
Novartis CEO: Easing rules on drug imports may loom
Novartis AG chief executive Daniel Vasella yesterday said that he ''wouldn't be surprised" if US regulators ease rules limiting the importation of cheaper drugs from Canada, but cautioned that would damage the industry's financial footing and wouldn't help patients much.

Speaking to a luncheon sponsored by the Boston College Chief Executives' Club at the Boston Harbor Hotel, Vasella, head of the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, echoed the concerns of other drug executives who worry that proposals in Washington might scare away investors.
From Turn to 10 (RI):
AG Won't Issue Legal Opinion On Drug Imports
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said he won't issue an advisory opinion on the legality of importing prescription drugs from Canada as the Rhode Island Pharmacists' Association had asked him to do.

Lynch said he cannot issue advisory opinions in response to requests from private groups -- only in answer to requests from government agencies.
From the National Post:
Report reveals internet drug transgressions
Internet pharmacies were improperly shipping heat-sensitive drugs, filling rubber-stamped prescriptions, and acting as wholesalers to other stores without a licence, Health Canada revealed yesterday after inspecting a small sample of the mail-order drug businesses.

It is the first look by the federal regulator at companies that sell as much $1- billion a year in medication at cheaper Canadian prices to Americans, and is likely to fuel controversy surrounding the booming industry.
From the Providence (RI) Journal:
Town eyes offering drugs from Canada for workers
In anticipation of contract negotiations with three labor unions in which health care will a key issue, town officials have been studying the option of buying prescription drugs from Canada for municipal employees.

Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said several Massachusetts communities are saving money that way, although he acknowledged that safety concerns and a shifting regulatory landscape may pose obstacles.

West Warwick spends more than $500,000 per year on employees' prescription drugs, Bauer said. Drugs often sell for substantially less in Canada because of government price controls.
From the Canadian Press:
Tracing Internet pharmacy co-signing a Sherlock Holmes job for regulators
It will take more than tough talk from politicians or changes to federal law to catch Canadian doctors who co-sign Internet pharmacy prescriptions, say medical and pharmacy watchdogs.

Regulatory bodies for doctors and pharmacists say tracking guilty doctors has become a frustrating, time-consuming Sherlock Holmes exercise that is further complicated by provincial laws and confidentiality rules. "The access to the information is severely restricted," said Dr. Bill Pope, registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba.

From CBC News:
Prescription drug shipments to be tagged electronically
Three large drug manufacturers in the United States say they plan to add radio transmitter tags to bottles of pills to prevent counterfeiting and theft.

The transmitters will be used on larger bottles sent from factories to pharmacies, not on the containers bought by consumers.

Purdue Pharma announced it will begin electronic tracking of shipments of OxyContin, a narcotic painkiller, to Wal-Mart and wholesaler H.D. Smith.

From the Lakeland (FL) Ledger:
Drug Service Thrives Without Ads
Discount Medicine of Canada owner Melinda Liddy quit advertising her business five months ago, when the Florida Department of Health ordered her to stop helping customers obtain medication from Canada.

Though you won't catch any newspaper or radio ads for the company, customers can still walk into Liddy's store if they want help finding cheaper drugs from up north. And despite the federal ban on imported prescriptions, Liddy says that Polk's demand for discounted medication has continued to grow.
From TIME.com:
Why Canada Won't Be Our Pharmacy
As the flu-vaccine shortage began, Canada quickly emerged as a potential life buoy. Ujjal Dosanjh, Canada's Health Minister, personally phoned Tommy Thompson, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and offered to share whatever surplus Canada had to help meet the 48-million-dose shortfall. "I assured him that if there was anything we could do to assist our American friends, we would be happy to do that," Dosanjh told TIME. But it wasn't long before Dosanjh was spelling out the limits of what his country could do. "Canada cannot be the drugstore of the United States," he said last week in a speech at Harvard. "Neither American consumers nor Canadian suppliers should have any illusions otherwise."
From USA Today:
Looking north for flu vaccine
Many of internist Michael Chase's older patients order prescription drugs from Canada to save money. Given the U.S. shortage, they figured, why not order a flu shot along with their cholesterol-lowering medication?

Chase had no vaccine. His usual supplier had ordered it from Chiron, which had been expected to supply up to 48 million doses to the United States before British authorities suspended its license.

So Chase and his partner, Philip O'Keefe, who practice in San Francisco, followed the example of Illinois, New Mexico and New York City and sought flu vaccine from foreign sources.

From the Providence (RI) Journal:
Brown wants R.I. to join prescription drug-import program
Secretary of State Matthew Brown asked Governor Carcieri today to enroll Rhode Island in a new drug-import program to make cheaper prescription drugs available from Canada and Europe despite a federal ban on the imports.

Illinois and Wisconsin launched the program, called I-SaveRx, in October to offer savings on about 100 medications of up to 50 percent off U.S. retail prices. Missouri also has joined.

"This is a great opportunity for Rhode Islanders to get the safe, affordable prescription drugs they need," Brown said in a statement. "I urge Governor Carcieri to enroll Rhode Island in I-SaveRx immediately."

Sunday, November 14, 2004

From the Vancouver Sun:
Prozac and painkillers found in tap water
The federal government's first study of pharmaceuticals in drinking water will confirm traces of common painkillers, anti-cholesterol drugs and the antidepressant Prozac are ending up in the treated water that Canadians drink, CanWest News Service has learned.

A study by researchers from the National Water Research Institute for Health and Environment Canada, designed to gauge how efficiently plants removed traces of drugs from drinking water, found nine different drugs in water samples taken near 20 drinking water treatment plants across southern Ontario.
From The Globe and Mail:
Alberta pharmacists surprised as drugs delisted
The Alberta government surprised pharmacists and some patients this week by delisting about a dozen generic drugs it previously covered.

The unexpected move will have a financial impact on seniors and others on fixed incomes who relied on the generics but will now have to switch to brand names in some cases, the Pharmacists Association of Alberta warned Thursday.
From The Globe and Mail:
Web pharmacies fear net tightening
Canada's Internet pharmacies warn that they face devastation if Ottawa forces doctors to stop approving mail-order prescriptions for U.S. patients without examining them personally.

"It could be very detrimental, if not deadly, for our industry," said David MacKay, executive director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, whose members do the bulk of cross-border business in this market.
From Reuters:
Canada Not Trying to Kill Web Drugstores, PM Say
Prime Minister Paul Martin denied on Friday that Canada was trying to drive Internet pharmacies out of business, despite Ottawa's recent complaints over drug sales to the United States.

Martin also denied the warnings were linked to any effort to improve relations with President Bush, who has objected to U.S. states and cities attempting to use Canada as a source of less expensive medicines.

"The two are entirely unrelated," Martin told reporters in Vancouver.
From the Providence (RI) Journal:
A go slow approach on drug plan
A top state health official said yesterday that he expects court action will likely prevent the state from licensing Canadian pharmacies to sell prescription medications to Rhode Island residents.

Because of that, said Donald C. Williams, head of health services regulation, the Department of Health has taken a bare-minimum approach to writing the regulations required to put the recently passed state law into action.

"I don't want the Department of Health to invest its limited resources -- extremely limited resources -- on a wild goose chase," Williams told an invited gathering of pharmacists, trade group representatives, activists for the elderly and others at a meeting yesterday morning.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

From the Globe and Mail:
Dosanjh threatens to cut off Web drugs
Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh says he will ensure the safety of the Canadian drug supply, even if it means choking off the flow of cheap Internet drugs to the United States.

The government is considering cracking down on doctors whose signatures allow the export of cheap Internet drugs, he told CTV News in an interview yesterday.


From the National Post:
Dosanjh questions ethics of Internet pharmacists
Canada's health minister says doctors and pharmacists who give prescriptions to Americans without meeting them first are being unethical.

Ujjal Dosanjh made the blunt charge while in Vancouver on Tuesday, but spokesmen for the bodies that regulate pharmacists and doctors say the charge is unfair and misinformed.
From Yahoo News:
Canada Warns It Cannot Be the Drugstore to U.S.
Canada warned the United States on Wednesday that it would not be able to meet its prescription drug needs.

"To me it is a matter of common sense that Canada cannot be the drugstore of the United States. Neither American consumers nor Canadian suppliers should have any illusions otherwise," Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said.

From the Providence (RI) Journal:
Health Dept. official: Canadian pharmacy licensing law may end up in court
A senior official at the state Department of Health said today it is "highly unlikely" the department will be able to license Canadian pharmacies to sell prescription drugs in Rhode Island by the Jan. 15 deadline set by the General Assembly.

Donald Williams, associate director for health services regulation at the health department, said he expects that the law adopted by the General Assembly permitting the state to license Canadian pharmacies will end up in court because it is opposed by several powerful constituencies, including the pharmaceutical industry and pharmacists in Rhode Island.

From The Globe and Mail:
U.S. bars Web drugs, but lets in flu vaccine
An Internet pharmacy has sold 400 doses of flu vaccine to a California doctor, raising questions about whether drug regulators in the United States are following their own rules.

Canadadrugmart.com, a Winnipeg company, packed the vials into a cooler and shipped them to San Francisco last month via FedEx. Another shipment is planned soon, before the pharmacy's refrigerator shelves are emptied of vaccine.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has previously stopped such bulk imports of unlicensed foreign drugs. The vaccine shipment was delayed at an airport hangar for eight days, but allowed to continue its journey.

Monday, November 08, 2004

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
State site registers lackluster drug sales
A state Web site for ordering prescription drugs from Canada may be saving Wisconsin residents money, but few are taking advantage of it.

In the first six months of operation, the three Canadian pharmacies working with Wisconsin residents report filling just 2,299 prescriptions, and the number is declining. In the first month, the Canadian pharmacies filed 765 prescriptions; they filled only 364 in August, the last month for which statistics were available.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who launched the Web site, www.drugsavings.wi.gov, in February, said he wasn't disappointed by the site's lackluster business so far.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

From the Montreal Gazette:
Drug studies bewilder consumers
Another day, another prescription-drug demolition. This time, the headline targets atenolol, a beta-blocker used by thousands of Canadians to combat high blood pressure and, presumably, to stave off strokes and heart attacks.

Well, it does no such thing, say the authors of a review in the Lancet, a muckraking British medical journal that regularly publishes explosive findings about everything from genetically modified foods to civilian mortality in Iraq. Not only does atenolol perform no better than a placebo in the cardiac-arrest department, it creates "significantly higher mortality" when compared with other high-blood-pressure prescription drugs.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

From Health Canada:
Drug stability failure of a few lots of Carbolith 150 mg capsules
Dear Health Care Professional,

Valeant Canada Limited (formerly ICN Canada Limited) is advising consumers about a recall involving lots of Carbolith 150 mg capsules from pharmacies and wholesalers across Canada.

As a precaution, Valeant Canada Limited recommends physicians to re-evaluate patients on Carbolith 150 mg by monitoring serum lithium levels and exercising clinical and laboratory surveillance over possible side effects.
From the Detroit Free Press:
Warren joins trend to Canada drug-shopping
Bucking government warnings about importing drugs, and hoping to help its 30,000 residents 65 or older, Warren on Friday became the largest Michigan city to offer free bus trips to Canada so senior citizens can buy cheaper prescription medicines.

Officials of Michigan's third-largest city said they expect residents will be able to save 40 percent to 70 percent.

The city patterned the program on one started three years ago in Westland that has been duplicated in Dearborn Heights.
From (New York) Newsday:
Bush re-election gives struggling drugmakers status quo benefits
The pharmaceutical industry stands to benefit from President Bush's re-election, but it's from maintenance of the status quo rather than any new policies favoring drug makers.

"In the scheme of things, it doesn't have any meaningful impact on the industry," said independent pharmaceuticals analyst Hemant Shah of HKS & Co. in Warren, N.J.

Industry analysts say that with Bush still in the White House and Republicans tightening their control of Congress, government price controls for prescription medicines won't be on the table. The free-market system, where demand drives price, will continue, said Barbara Ryan, a pharmaceuticals analyst and managing director at Deutsche Bank Securities.
From CBC News:
Seniors in Warren, Mich., offered bus trips to Canada to get prescription drugs
The city's 30,000 residents 65 or older have a new option when it comes to paying for their prescription drugs.

On Friday, Warren joined other municipalities across the state in offering free bus trips to Canada so senior citizens can buy cheaper prescription medicines.

Officials for Michigan's third-largest city said they expect residents will be able to save 40 to 70 per cent.
From the National Post:
Drug won't stop heart attacks
A blood pressure drug taken by hundreds of thousands of Canadians is no better than a dummy pill at preventing heart attacks or deaths from heart disease, new research suggests.

As well, atenolol was worse than several other blood pressure medicines in preventing cardiac-related deaths or stroke, the international study found.
From the Edmonton Sun:
At-risk people go first in line for flu shots
Some 75 private flu clinics in the city have been cancelled because of increased public demand for vaccinations. The Victorian Order of Nurses, which scheduled the Edmonton clinics, had to cancel clinics in private pharmacies like Costco Wholesale because Canada's two suppliers have to immunize more at-risk patients than in previous years.

VON has contracts with pharmacies to provide the vaccine to people that aren't in the high-risk group.

"The government is making an effort to get at-risk people the vaccine. The people that we were doing are healthy," said Sheri St. Arnaud, VON's city clinical co-ordinator.
From CNN:
Pfizer faces Canadian suit over drug Celebrex
A Canadian class-action lawsuit has been launched against Pfizer Inc. alleging that its arthritis drug Celebrex caused cardiovascular side effects, the law firm launching the suit said Friday.

Shares of Pfizer (down $0.22 to $28.84, Research), a member of the Dow Jones industrial average, were down 0.65 percent in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Saskatchewan-based Merchant Law Group included Pfizer's Bextra in its suit and also named Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany's largest pharmaceutical firm, for its Mobicox, in the same class of drugs.
From CBC.ca:
Questions raised about arthritis drugs
Some Canadian doctors are wondering whether arthritis drugs in the same class as Vioxx, which caused nearly 28,000 heart attacks or deaths in the U.S. before it was pulled off the market in September, might carry some of the same risks.

The 28,000 figure emerged this week as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a new report about Vioxx.

In pulling it off worldwide markets more than a month ago, manufacturer Merck & Co. said its clinical trial had found the drug doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients who took it for more than 18 months, compared to those who took dummy pills.

From the Port Angeles (Wash.) Penninsula Daily News:
Still demand for flu shot tours to Victoria
Royal Tours owner-president Kevin Harris thought his ``Flu Shot Tour'' to Victoria would run out, like the flu vaccine his passengers are seeking.

Four days tops, the Port Townsend businessman thought the attraction would last.

Two weeks later, the Carlsborg-based transportation and tour company is still carrying passengers on a flu vaccination tour across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
From the Boston Globe:
FDA delays response to drug suit
The federal Food and Drug Administration has postponed its response to Vermont's first-in-the-nation lawsuit seeking to overturn the FDA's ban on the importation of prescription drugs from Canada.

The agency now has until Nov. 30 to respond.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

From the Canadian Press:
Bush victory should soothe fears of cross-border drug crisis: CIPA
The re-election of President George W. Bush should soothe fears that the cross-border prescription drug trade will lead to crippling shortages for Canadians, a spokesman for the Internet pharmacy industry said Wednesday.

Four more years in power will allow Bush to further "tighten the screws" on the industry, forcing Canadian online pharmacies to increasingly turn to Europe to fill orders instead of relying on a network of domestic suppliers, said David MacKay, executive director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association.
From CBC Montreal:
Cabinet minister's record as pharmacy owner under review
The opposition Parti Quebecois is asking the Liberals to remove junior Transport Minister Julie Boulet for her role in managing a pharmacy during her first few months in Jean Charest's cabinet.

Boulet admits that before her nomination to cabinet last year, and for some time after, she gave free rent to three doctors who ran a clinic in the same building as a pharmacy she co-owned in Saint-Tite.
From the Miami Herald:
Bush re-election gives struggling drugmakers status quo benefits
The pharmaceutical industry stands to benefit from President Bush's re-election, but it's from maintenance of the status quo rather than any new policies favoring drug makers.

"In the scheme of things, it doesn't have any meaningful impact on the industry," said independent pharmaceuticals analyst Hemant Shah of HKS & Co. in Warren, N.J.

Industry analysts say that with Bush still in the White House and Republicans tightening their control of Congress, government price controls for prescription medicines won't be on the table. The free-market system, where demand drives price, will continue, said Barbara Ryan, a pharmaceuticals analyst and managing director at Deutsche Bank Securities.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Flu shots fly in from Canada
When San Francisco internist Dr. Philip O'Keefe could find no flu shots for his elderly and immune-compromised patients, he did what the federal government is now trying to do: He turned to Canada.

Soon enough, a Winnipeg pharmacy that sells all kinds of prescription medicines to Americans over the Internet -- in violation of U.S. law -- was willing to ship him 400 doses of French-made flu vaccine for about $10.50 each.

On Thursday night, in the same sort of plastic foam container used to fly fresh fish across the country, 40 vials of vaccine nestled in ice packs were winging their way to San Francisco.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

From the Canadian Press:
Drug used to treat manic-depressive illness recalled by Health Canada
A drug used to treat manic-depressive illness has been recalled by Health Canada.

Carbolith 150 milligram capsules, distributed in Canada by Valeant Canada Limited, have been recalled after company testing found the medication may not deliver adequate amounts of the drug to ensure effective treatment. As a precaution, Health Canada is advising people taking the drug to continue on their medication but consult their doctor as soon as possible.

Monday, November 01, 2004

From CBC Manitoba:
Doctor fined for signing web prescriptions
Another Manitoba doctor has been censured for co-signing prescriptions for internet pharmacies.

Dr. Stewart Silagy is the sixth Manitoba physician to be disciplined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Silagy was ordered to pay a $14,000 fine for co-signing Internet prescriptions in 2003.
From the Edmonton Sun:
Concerns rise over Net drug sales
Online drug peddling could touch off the next cross-border trade tiff. U.S. presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry have both promised to pass laws allowing Internet imports of bargain-priced Canadian medicines, fuelling concerns the shipments will drive up domestic prices and create a crippling shortage for Canadians.

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh is confident Canada's supply is safe for now, but he's keeping a close watch on how the U.S. process unfolds.
From the Edmonton Sun:
Druggist: put me out of business
A Winnipeg-based Internet pharmacist wants America to put him out of business. Daren Jorgenson believes high drug prices south of the border, which spawned the industry that made him rich, should become a thing of the past.

"Don't let drug companies like Pfizer put me out of business" for selling their products to Americans, Jorgenson says in his online call for action on www.americaputmeoutofbusiness.com.

"I want you to put me out of business by forcing these drug companies to sell their products to American pharmacies at fair and reasonable prices."