Article - Canadian Internet pharmacies buoyed by U.S. government safety report

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Canadian Internet pharmacies buoyed by U.S. government safety report

at 18:36 on June 17, 2004, EST.

WINNIPEG (CP) - Canada's Internet pharmacy industry says it has been

vindicated by a U.S. report released Thursday that found prescription drugs

bought online from Canada posed fewer risks than those purchased from other

international websites.

The Canadian International Pharmacy Association hopes the report, prepared

by Congress's equivalent of the Canadian auditor general, will now help shift

the focus of the contentious cross-border debate from whether Canadian drugs are

safe to how uninsured Americans can be guaranteed an adequate supply of cheap

medications.

" We're ecstatic, " executive director MacKay said after reading the

19-page report released in Washington by the U.S. General Accounting Office's

public health director.

" This is complete vindication. This puts to bed all the rhetoric that is

stopping or halting the process of moving forward. "

The safety of drugs purchased online from Canada has been front and centre

for the U.S. Senate as it holds hearings to decide whether to legalize

importation.

Opponents on both sides of the border, including the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration, have said Canadian drugs are not approved for sale in the United

States and it will be too late to act if officials wait for evidence of danger.

But the U.S. report found in some instances, Canadian Internet pharmacies

had stricter standards than those in the United States.

Investigators bought drugs online from 12 countries, including Canada, the

United States and Mexico.

The Canadian sites fared well in key areas, such as requiring

prescriptions written by a doctor, using detailed labels, and selling drugs that

contained comparable chemical composition to FDA-approved drugs.

By contrast, investigators found widespread problems purchasing

prescription medicines from many other foreign countries. Some drugs were

counterfeit; many arrived without instructions or patient warnings.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said his research, funded by the

pharmaceutical industry, shows U.S. government inspectors look at only about 10

per cent of packages containing pharmaceuticals that are sent from abroad.

" It is pretty much right now a wide open system, " Giuliani told senators.

Louise Binder, a Canadian patient rights advocate opposed to Internet

pharmacy, said she doesn't dispute that drugs manufactured in Canada and

approved by Health Canada for Canadians are safe.

But she said there are many other potential dangers Congress should

consider before legalizing Internet pharmacies.

" A drug can be de-facto safe, but is it prescribed properly for that

person? " asked Binder, chair of the Canadian Treatment Action Council, an

advocacy and education group for people living with HIV/AIDS.

" Are the side effects understood? The whole doctor-patient relationship is

also being altered. "

Several bills would strengthen federal regulation of domestic Internet

pharmacies and inspections of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants abroad.

But MacKay warns that his members' ability to supply Americans if

importation is legalized will be next to impossible unless there is strict

language in the law to stop pharmaceutical giants from choking off supply to the

online pharmacies.

For the last several months, major companies such as Pfizer and

AstraZeneca have stepped up efforts to blacklist the pharmacies and stop them

from underselling their products south of the border.

Many can no longer sell some of their most popular products and some are

now referring customers on a commission basis to Internet pharmacies in Britain

or New Zealand for the products they can't provide.

MICHELLE MACAFEE

© The Canadian Press, 2003