More Medicines From Abroad Seized

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The U.S. government apparently is stepping up seizures of cheap drugs ordered by Americans — mainly seniors — from abroad, Canadian pharmacies say. The pharmacies, which sell drugs by mail and over the Internet, say their shipments are being intercepted by U.S. Customs officials around the country where foreign mail is handled. "It's huge — we've had over 800 seizures in January," up from 15 in a typical month, said Barney Britton, president of Calgary-based MinitDrugs. Other pharmacies reported four- to five-fold increases.

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People whose drugs are seized are not cited and generally are able to get them replaced free of charge by the foreign pharmacy. But many customers are infuriated. "It's despicable," said Samuel Robert Greenberg, a Laguna Niguel retiree who lost a package of anti-cholesterol pills and glaucoma eyedrops late last month. "They are playing with people's lives." Greenberg, 73, said he and his wife had bought drugs from Canadian pharmacies for years without incident. But if replacements for his Lipitor pills don't arrive by next week, Greenberg said, he will have to buy from a local pharmacy at a cost of about $3 a pill — a third more than he pays through the mail.

Greenberg said such seizures were a waste of government resources. "Forget about the heroin," Greenberg said. "They are going to stop the Lipitor." Although the FDA has never taken enforcement action against an individual for ordering prescription drugs from abroad, it has conducted a handful of what it calls "blitzes" over the last five years in cooperation with the Customs Service at international mail centers.

The FDA analyzed the drugs seized in those cases and publicized their findings in an effort to warn mail-order customers about the risks of getting the wrong medication, poor-quality substitutes or counterfeits. Some Canadian pharmacy operators believe U.S. authorities timed the latest seizures to coincide with the Jan. 1 launch of Medicare's drug-discount program, which competes for the business of American seniors.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-seize11feb11,0,6796122.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[MissWaverly]

1. this is so wrong

isn't this supposed to be a free country, people should be able to shop where they want
for their medications.

[phoebe]

2. and yet for YEARS the pharma companies did NOTHING to ensure

their drugs were legit when given to the poorest of the poor in Africa. For example, people were knowingly given drugs that contained contaminated water/drugs as opposed to the liquid AIDS drug that they desperately needed and were charged for. They were told this was going on by a highly qualified insider and yet did nothing..it's all about MONEY

This is a wonderful website that lists a lot of what the big pharmas are/have been up to:

http://www.dr-rath-foundation.org.za/news/pharma-2.html

[OneBlueSky]

3. once again, ask yourself "who benefits?" from this policy . . .

and the only answer is the pharmaceutical industry, which wants to maintain total control of supply and pricing in this country . . . and BushCo is only to happy to spend our tax dollars to help then do just that . . . disgusting . . .