FDA Warns Consumers About Mediplan

I am quite sure we will be hearing a lot more about this soon. I'll have more info posted later today.

From the Food and Drug Administration:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers not to purchase prescription drugs from websites that have orders filled by Mediplan Prescription Plus Pharmacy or Mediplan Global Health in Manitoba, Canada following reports of counterfeit versions of prescription drug products being sold by these companies to U.S. consumers. FDA is investigating these reports and is coordinating with international law enforcement authorities on this matter. ...more

Health Canada cuts off sick man’s pot supply

I'm not certain if having medical marijuana available through a local pharmacy would help this patient or not, but it seems to me that it would be a lot more practical for pharmacies to distribute the product as opposed to a federal agency.

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
Tom McMullen ran out of the medication that gave him his life back about two weeks ago, and he can’t get more.

The Prospect Bay man is an authorized medical marijuana user and buys his drugs directly from Health Canada.

But the bill for the 90 grams he’s allowed each month is 80 per cent of his monthly Canada Pension, his only source of income. ...more

Mass. city ends drug plan that defied US

The Springfield, Mass. Canadian pharmacy plan is dead. This well-publicized and controversial plan was the brainchild of former mayor Michael Albano. Albano started the program in 2003 and both he and the plan were often the focus of the cross border pharmacy debate.

I suppose this could be viewed as another sign of the decline of the Canadian internet pharmacy industry. I'm sure somewhere a drug company executive is smiling...

From the Boston Globe:
The Massachusetts city that stood up to federal regulators and inspired a national movement to import less expensive prescription drugs from Canada is calling it quits.

Three years after Springfield became the first city in the United States to buy drugs from Canada for about 1,500 municipal employees and retirees, the city has decided to stop offering its own health insurance coverage, including the Canadian drug importation plan. ...more

Customs seizes Canadian meds

It's time for a bit of an internet pharmacy update. There isn't anything in this article we haven't seen before, but here it is anyway.

From the Mankato (Minn.) Free Press:
Maurice Hardie isn’t a criminal.

He lives a quiet, retired life in Madison Lake, with his wife, Dorit, taking care of a lush back yard. Doing a little grilling. Visiting with friends.

So when he got an ominous letter from Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, he was surprised and a little worried. ...more

U.S. allows some nonprescription sales of morning-after pill

It looks like the FDA was able to push Plan B to OTC status after a long road despite political objections. However, it's not as simple as it ordinarily would be. Plan B will be kept behind the pharmacy counter and only those over 18 can purchase it without a Rx. Youths will still require a prescription.

Beyond the obvious political and moral debate, this is pretty interesting from a pharmacy point of view. While Canadian pharmacies have established "no public access" areas that contain items like Gravol, Tylenol #1's and other items that a pharamcist must give out, such a category has not existed in the States. A drug there is either Rx or can be sold anywhere, even gas stations, etc. This ruling essentially creates a "no public access" category in the States. Will pharmacy regulators take advantage of this new category and attempt to add other items, or will the opportunity be missed?

From the Canadian Press:
Women in the United States can buy the morning-after pill without a prescription, the government declared Thursday, a major step that nevertheless failed to quell a politically charged debate over access to emergency contraception.

The manufacturer, lawmakers and other advocates said they will press the U.S. government to allow minors to purchase the pills over the counter. ...more

Oral rotavirus vaccine okayed for infants

There have been a few new product announcements over the last while. One that I don't have a link for yet is for rasagaline, which is a new med to treat Parkinson's. Meanwhile, here's a note about a new vaccine. It seems that some vaccines have been making news. It's nice to see new products coming out that aren't "me too" drugs. After all, do we really need another statin or ARB?

From the Toronto Star:
An oral vaccine that protects babies against a nasty bug that causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea — and sends thousands of kids to hospital each year — will be available this fall in Canada.

Merck Frosst Canada Ltd. announced last week that Health Canada has approved its vaccine RotaTeq, which protects against rotavirus gastroenteritis. Distribution to doctors and pharmacists is expected to begin next month. ...more

Canada's pioneering law to get cheap AIDS drugs to poor nations falls on face

Since the big HIV/AIDS conference is in Toronto, there may be a lot of related posts this week. It's probably an area that a lot of pharmacists are not too familiar with since in most provinces the antiretrovirals are dispensed through special clinics and programs.

From the Ottawa Citizen:
For Ibrahim Umoru, it was a stark but simple decision: He sold his car and his small apartment so he could buy HIV/AIDS drugs.

"I wanted to live," said the Nigerian father of two.

Then, in 2004, he was able to get drugs and related health care at no cost through a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) project in Lagos....more

Many HIV Canadians not following drug plan: study

From CTV News:
Canadians infected with HIV are less likely to follow instructions when taking anti-HIV medications than those in sub-Saharan Africa, a new Canadian-led study suggests.

In an analysis of almost 60 studies on medication compliance during the past decade, researchers found that just 55 per cent of North Americans HIV patients followed their anti-retroviral medication (ART) regimens to the letter, compared with 77 per cent of their counterparts in sub-Saharan Africa. ...more

The link to the JAMA abstract is here.

How to wipe out AIDS in 45 years

This is a fascinating theory which questions current methods used to prevent the spread of HIV. Can the widespread use of antivirals work better than behavior changes? It would cost a fortune but it's an interesting idea.

From Macleans:
Dr. Julio Montaner, the Argentinian-born director of the internationally acclaimed B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and president-elect of the International AIDS Society, doesn't exactly think small. On Aug. 4, The Lancet published a paper in which Montaner and his colleagues outline a theory to eradicate the global spread of HIV within 4 1/2 decades. And it has nothing to do with condoms, abstinence or free needle exchanges. ...more

Drug insurers dispense warning

Dispensing fees are making the news again. It's disheartening but not unexpected that the fee is not judged on value of service received, just on the dollar figure. I love the line in there from CUPE stating to use mail order pharmacy but not at the expense of closing down local pharmacies. Nice try to cover all the bases, but I don't see how what they suggest is possible. Any Rx filled via mail order would potentially hurt a local pharmacy or am I missing something?

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
Drug-dispensing fees are one of the latest targets in the battle to reduce health insurance costs.

Some insurance providers are now advising employers to alert staff to the widely varying fees charged by drugstores to fill prescriptions.

For example, in 2005, Nova Scotia pharmacies charged between $4.42 and $11.74 to fill a prescription, a Manulife Financial survey found. The fees also varied within chains such as Shoppers Drug Mart and Sobeys. ...more

Pharmacists Rap New Version of Decongestants

I've never heard this before. Pseudoephedrine, despite it's potential for diversion, is a quality decongestant. If the article is accurate the new phenylephrine versions may be rather useless.

From CBC News:
Starting in late September, Sudafed and similar cold medications will only be available from behind pharmacy counters because their active ingredient can be used to make the street drug methamphetamine.

So, consumers may be tempted to try a new type of drug that will be easier to buy. But two pharmaceutical researchers contend there's a big problem with the new nasal decongestants: They don't work. ...more

Pharmacies chafe at changes to First Nations drug plan

Perhaps the government has pushed the pharmacies up north too far. Apparently one Yukon pharmacy is ready to give up on filling NIHB Rx as the formula has made these scripts not worth it. I wonder if more will follow suit.

Ordinarily this type of boycott would not work as most communities have more than one pharmacy. However, up north the next pharmacy can be too far away to access. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

From CBC News:
A dispute between pharmacists and Health Canada may force some First Nations people in the North to pay up-front for their prescription medications.

At least one pharmacy in the Yukon has warned First Nations members in their region that they will have to pay for their medications as of Sept. 1.

Northern pharmacies and Health Canada are at loggerheads over changes to prescription drug service for aboriginal people. ...more

It's been a while

Greetings to everyone out there. I've been wrapped up in various summer activities, but look for some more regular posts here as of August.

Time to get started....

US Senate votes to end seizures of Canadian drugs

I think it's rather unlikely that this will ever pass through all the levels of the American government, but the Senate did approve a bill allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada. It might simply be a move by some politicians to win points with the electorate in the American mid-term elections. Regardless, I don't think prescription drugs will be the hot button topic it was in the 2004 campaign.

From the Washington Post:
U.S. customs and border security agents would be banned from seizing prescription drugs that Americans import from Canada under a measure passed by the Senate on Tuesday.

The Senate voted 68-32 in favor of the provision, with supporters saying the federal government should stay out of the way of Americans seeking cheaper medicines in Canada for personal use. Many Americans import prescription drugs from abroad even though the practice is illegal. ...more

It looks like the Canadian government is greeting the news with a yawn. There are some Liberals that are talking about it, but their focus seems to be more about trying to pin a conflict of interest charge on the health minister as opposed to the issue itself. Cross border pharmacy has largely dropped off the radar for the Canadian public. Remember the days when it was a staple of the nightly news and in the newspaper regularly? That seems like a long time ago.

From the Globe and Mail:
The federal government is unconcerned about a move by the U.S. Senate to end a ban on the import of cheap Canadian pharmaceuticals, but a former Liberal health minister says the proposal threatens the drug supply in this country.

And another Liberal suggests the reluctance of Health Minister Tony Clement to act on the file may be linked to the fact that his former communications aide is now head of the organization that represents on-line pharmacists who sell much of their product to Americans. ...more

Canadians may soon be able to drink their nicotine

Watch out Nicorete and Nicoderm -- here comes a new nicotine replacement in a bottle of water. I can't figure this one out. The nicotine drink will not be treated as a natural product? Didn't the government stop sales of that pharmacist-invented nicotine stick a couple of years ago claiming it was a drug? Also, I was under the impression that the caffeine-laced water sold in the States was not allowed in Canada.

From Canada.com:
...NIC Lite water contains about two cigarettes worth of nicotine and is being sold as a dietary supplement in the U.S. even though the Food and Drug Administration recently said it's an unapproved drug and its claim to be a supplement violates the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. ...more

Important Safety Information: Intracranial Hemorrhage in Patients Receiving Aptivus® (tipranavir) Capsules

From Health Canada:
...As of June 7, 2006, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) has received 14 reports of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), including 8 fatalities, in 6840 HIV-1 infected patients receiving APTIVUS in clinical trials...

for the Public
for Health Professionals

Canadian sale hits record low

With the dollar being what as high as it is and the new Medicare plan, I guess this is no surprise.

From the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune:
Sales of low-price prescription drugs from Canada, purchased through a state-sponsored program, plunged to their lowest level last month, Minnesota officials reported Wednesday.

The program of phone and Internet links to Canadian pharmacies was started two years ago by Gov. Tim Pawlenty as the first in the nation. Sales fell to $30,417 last month -- down about 30 percent from May and a shadow of the $153,000 during its best month in January 2005. ...more

Drug firms' research spending falls short

Here's an article that's a bit old, but it's interesting. I didn't realize that there are specific amounts that the brand name drug companies are supposed to spend on research in Canada. They seem to be having trouble reaching it over the last five years.

If the drug companies met this pledge, they would have a good statement to make in negotiations with governments when it comes to changes to formularies and patent laws (like the recent Ontario drug bill). They could say that they have held up their end of the negotiated bargain. Instead, I think they've left themselves open to criticism that is hard to deflect.

At least the stats are improving, up from 8.5% in 2004 to 8.8% last year.

From the Ottawa Citizen:
While seeing rising sales, Canada's big drug companies again failed to hit their promised target for spending on research and development of new medicines last year.

Brand-name drugmakers spent $1.2 billion or 8.7 per cent of their sales on research and development, marking the fifth consecutive year that the industry has failed to meet the 10-per-cent-of-sales ratio pledged when patent rules were strengthened in 1987. ...more

Native woman appeals demands to change drugs

From CBC News:
An aboriginal woman living in Winnipeg is appealing a demand that she switch medications for a health problem, saying the federal government's efforts to cut drug costs for First Nations people have gone too far.

Doreen Demas, 50, is blind and has diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. She takes medications that require an extra drug, a proton pump inhibitor, to protect her stomach. ...more

Pinning hopes on `wonder drug'

Here's another story regarding a really expensive new drug which treats a relatively uncommon but serious ailment. These stories are in the papers more and more these days. The issue here isn't so much about government approval as opposed to coverage of the drug. It's hard to draw the line of what is covered and what isn't, and sometimes it isn't fair. But isn't that essentially what the Canadian health care system is about? We have one dominant payer in the government which holds all the cards in these cases. The government decides what type of surgery, diagnostic test, or drug is covered and we essentially have to live with it. Or else we need to change the system.

From the Toronto Star:
...The Toronto resident is pinning all her hopes on a wonder drug called Avastin, which was approved by Health Canada in September 2005 for patients with metastatic colon cancer. The problem is the Ontario Drug Benefit program, which pays for drugs for seniors, those on disability and the poor, doesn't cover the steep cost of the medication, which is close to $40,000 for a round of treatment. For cancer patients who want to get the drug when they're in hospital, Ontario doesn't provide or cover it.

This month she began yet another round of chemotherapy as well as Avastin, which is delivered intravenously at a private health clinic in Toronto. Family and friends are raising money to pay the hefty bill. ...more