Posted on 02/09/2003 9:14:33 AM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
Effective January 21, 2003, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has refused to supply its products to any Canadian pharmacy that fills prescriptions for customers in the United States. They want to ensure that you continue paying the highest drug prices in the world. By refusing to supply Canadian International Pharmacies with their product, they are forcing you to buy within the United States. Essentially, they are revoking your Right of Choice so that they can make more profits.
We can NOT allow this happen.
YOU MUST ACT NOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF and your family, even if you don't use prescription drugs made by GSK.
IF GSK IS SUCCESSFUL, ALL OTHER DRUG MANUFACTURERS WILL FOLLOW SUIT SO THAT THEY, TOO, CAN PROTECT THEIR PROFITS.
GSK continues to claim that buying prescription drugs from Canada "...puts patients at risk". When in fact Canada has a world-class drug regulatory system. Canadians are prescribed the same medications, made by the same drug companies as those used in the United States.
The ONLY real issue is PROFITS! And greatest profits are generated in the United States.
Today Americans are speaking out and saying "NO" to GSK who are compromising your health and well-being.
Here's what YOU can do:
1.Write to GSK directly.
Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO
GlaxoSmithKline - USA
5 Moore Drive
PO Box 13398
Research Triangle Park, NC
27709
As well as:
Steven Popp, Director, Customer Operations & Distribution Strategy
GlaxoSmithKline - Canada
Bureau d'affaires du Canada
8455 route Transcanadienne
Saint-Laurent (Quebec)
Canada H4S 1Z1
And, if you can, copy your elected representatives and the media.
2. Make sure YOUR voice is heard
· Call CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.
· Call your local media.
· Go to our website at www.realfastdrugstore.com/congress_f.htm and type your zip code in the box labeled "Contact Congress" to find your State & Federal officials.
Bottom of Form
You need to tell them how important it is that you have the freedom to choose to buy your medicine at a price you can afford.
Exactly, or ask your Doctor to prescribe a drug that is genericly available. Whether your insurance will pay for the brand or not.
I agree with Glaxo. let's keep our std of living high.
Actually, it's advertising. Prescription drug advertising is severely limited in Canada. Contrast that with the mutli-multi-billion dollar promotional budgets of US companies. Also, Canadian companies have 17 years of exclusivity before generics can be made, vs. 10.5 in the US.
"If the US companies could sell a product in the US at the lower prices, they would, or their competitors would and they would be driven out of the market."
Supply and demand is a major factor as well. Americans use 42% of the world's prescription medicines. Canadians, per capita, about half that.
"Profit is not dirty word. I'll bet the folks who run those websites through which one can buy presciption drugs from Canada make some."
Darn right they do. Granted my comparison was limited to the one drug I take (Zyrtec, sold in Canada as Reactine) but based on a survey of three companies' sites that ship to the US, the cost (before shipping) was about double that of the drugstore around the corner.
Even if the flow of mail order meds is stopped, there's nothing the drug companies can do about people crossing the border to purchase their drugs. The strengh of the US dollar makes Canada a cheap holiday destination too.
Because of Canada price controls, we are supporting Canadian Socialism, I'm glad someone is saying "no". This company will probably loose some money doing this, by the way.
Advertising and freebies to doctors are the main reason but you have to search under all the camouflage before you find it.
Pharmaceutical Facts
The Research-based pharmaceutical industry spends more on marketing and administration than it does on research and development. (Families USA)
U.S. Drug spending increased 17.1% to $154.5 billion dollars in 2001. One-quarter of this increase was due to a shift to the use of more expensive drugs. (National Institute for Health Care Management)
The top selling drug in 2001 was Lipitor. Increase in Lipitor sales contributed more than any other single drug to the increase in drug costs that year (NIHCM). The effect of Lipitor on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality remains unknown.
Pharmaceutical industry profits were 18.5% of revenue in 2001. For the remainder of Fortune 500 companies, median profits were 3.5% (FamiliesUSA). Since 1995, R&D staff of U.S. brand name drug companies have decreased by 2%, while marketing staff have increased by 59%. Currently, 22% of staff are employed in research and development, while 39% are in marketing. (PhRMA Industry Profile 2000; percentages calculated by Sager and Socolar)
In a study by Avorn, et al, forty-six per-cent of physicians reported that drug reps are moderately to very important in influencing their prescribing habits (Am Journal of Med, 1982).
Two and one-half billion dollars were spent on advertising to consumers in 2000. Increases in the sales of the 50 drugs most heavily advertised to consumers were responsible for almost half (47.8%) of the $20.8 billion increase in spending in 2000.(NIHCM)
In 2000, Merck spent $161 million on advertising for Vioxx. That is more than Pepsico spent advertising Pepsi. ($125 million), and more than Anheuser-Busch spent advertising Budweiser.($146 million). The increase in Vioxx sales in 2000 accounted for 5.7% of the 1 year increase in drug spending. (NIHCM)
A study by Westfall, et al, found that 96% of physicians and staff had taken samples for personal or family use in the preceding year. (JAMA, 1997)
According to industry estimates, drug companies spent $15.7 billion dollars on promotion in 2000. $7.2 billion dollars worth of free samples were distributed that year(IMS Health).
The AMA generates $20 million in annual income by selling detailed personal and professional information on all doctors practicing in the United States to the pharmaceutical industry (NY Times, November 16, 2000).
Read the figures in Snowyman's #14, your prescription dollar doesn't just go into R&D. Here is what is generally said in any Canadian prescription drug ad:
"There is a new treatment for (insert condition here). For more information, talk to your doctor."
It's very difficult for doctors to say no to a patient when they come in and demand a prescription drug by name, even if the doctor is unconvinced of it's effectiveness. Excepting narcotics, when someone asks for medicine they almost always get it, even if another would be as or more effective at a lower cost.
If you're not in a position to pay through the nose and your son can't get you some freebies, vote with your feet and buy in Canada or the UK. When one company spends more to advertise one drug than the #2 cola company spends you've got to wonder. Dress warm if you're coming up soon.
Great news! Pfizer is also fighting France's government buyer. Let the rest of the world start paying a full price and our prices will decline. Bank on it.
Perhaps you can take advantage of Cuba's health care system, no millionaires there.
I have and continue to work with some of the GSK execs you so blithely slander. Are they entitled to by payed as much as a hollywood star that mouths words? Or as much as a sports start that gets to play ball for big bucks?
They put their careers, reputations and quite a bit of their own cash on the line to bring new drugs to market against all odds. My boss, a former director of Glaxo has most of his personal worth tied up in his own company where they seed money to pharma startups.
Did you know that last year there were only EIGHT new chemical entities sent to the FDA?
Your socialist rants would be more welcome on the Ben and Jerry's message board. Ooops, I forgot they sold out to.
I suppose Colombian drug cartels are going to do the raw materials, finished product, and storage stability testing according to GLP and GMP guidelines, right?
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