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Don’t force retirees to buy imported drugs

    I am a retiree from Schenectady County. I worked for 23 years, receiving a very low salary but good benefi ts. I looked forward to my retirement, thinking my health care worries would be covered.
    Each time the new contract for the current workers comes up, my health benefits change. I got a letter in the mail in mid-January that if I didn’t get my maintenance drugs from CanaRX (out of the country), I would be penalized $60 per prescription at my local pharmacy. That’s a jump of $40 per prescription.
    I called the number on the letter to find out what to do, and no one returned my calls. I called Civil Service for help; they didn’t return my calls either. So I called CanaRX; they led me through the process. One of my prescriptions is coming from Australia, one is coming from England and one from Canada. None of these is FDA-approved.
    I know the county wants to save money, but forcing its employees and retirees to go out of the country for our medication is uncalled for. How can it be cost-effective and safe to be getting our drugs from all over the world? Next they will be coming from China — everything else does.
    Schenectady County has a history of not treating its employees fairly; this also includes its retirees. I love this country, but I feel we should stop spending our tax dollars out of the country and support our own economy. Throwing money out of the country is not going to fix anything.
    MARTY SHANTY
    Charlton

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thinking my health care worries would be covered.

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I called the number on the letter to find out what to do, and no one returned my calls. I called Civil Service for help; they didn’t return my calls either. So I called CanaRX; they led me through the process. One of my prescriptions is coming from Australia, one is coming from England and one from Canada. None of these is FDA-approved.

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stop spending our tax dollars out of the country and support our own economy.

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Sch’dy County and workers save big with Canadian drugs

    Re the Feb. 7 letter by Marty Shanty, “Don’t force retirees to buy imported drugs”: Schenectady County’s landmark Canadian drug program has been a resounding success, saving county taxpayers over $1.2 million in the past year, and it’s poised to save them over $1.8 million in 2008. Cumulative savings since its inception in December 2004 are nearly $4 million. Contrary to Mr. Shanty’s assertion in his letter, the program is safe, smart, legal and totally voluntary.
    The drug program was negotiated with all three county unions: CSEA, SEIU 1199 and SCSBA Local 3874. Employees and retirees each have options to utilize MVP or CDPHP plans with no Canadian drug component, while those who choose the county plan are free to utilize the non-Canadian options. Each union has been a full partner in this progressive program.
    The Canadian option provides extraordinary savings on many prescriptions. For example, price savings on Celebrex are as great as 80.2 percent, on Flomax 49.1 percent, on Nexium 63.1 percent, on Prevacid 78.8 percent, and on Altace 85.8 percent. The employee or retiree who utilizes the Canadian option shares in this savings with a zero co-pay. An employee or retiree who desires to utilize a higher-cost option may do so, but pays an incentive copay of $60 for a 90-day U.S. mail order prescription or a 30-day local pharmacy prescription. This co-pay helps offset the cost to taxpayers of the individual’s higher-cost decisions.
    All drugs from CanaRx are individually seal-wrapped in packages from the same manufacturers who sell these drugs in the United States at a huge mark-up. The bottom line is this: The Canadian drug program will save county taxpayers $1.8 million in 2008 — a 3 percent reduction in their county real property tax rate, and it will save county employees and retirees several hundred thousand dollars on their copays.
    As vice-chair of the county Legislature, I am proud of the progress that the new Democratic majority has made on several fronts in restraining health care costs in cooperation with our unions since 2004. The Canadian drug program is just one of these efforts.
    JUDY DAGOSTINO
    Rotterdam

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Schenectady County Dems accused of taking illegal donationFebruary 13, 2008
By Mark Robarge (Contact)
Gazette Reporter



SCHENECTADY — The chairman of the Schenectady County Republican Committee is accusing county Democrats of taking an illegal $5,000 contribution last year from a Canadian Internet pharmacy.

Tom Buchanan said he plans to ask the U.S. Attorney General's Office and the Federal Elections Commission to launch an independent investigation into the contribution by CanaRx Services Inc., a company based in Tecumseh, Ontario.

The county works with CanaRx as part of the international discount prescription drug program it launched in 2004 for county employees. CanaRx helps the county obtain long-term prescription drugs cheaply through Canada, Australia and Great Britain.

Buchanan said the contribution, which is listed in the Schenectady County Democratic Committee's 11-day pre-general election filing with the state Board of Elections, violates the federal McCain-Feingold Law.

The 2002 law expressly prohibits foreign nationals from making a contribution or donation to a political committee of a political party.

"They are in such a hurry to try and raise as much campaign cash as quickly as possible that they accepted an illegal $5,000 donation from a foreign national," Buchanan said. "They are behaving like pigs at a trough, only this time their snouts got stuck."

County Democratic Chairman Brian Quail said he believes the accusation simply involves a clerical error and that the donation was legally made by an American-based subsidiary of the company.

"There may have been some mistake in reporting the address of the entity," Quail said. "If there was a mistake [in accepting the donation], we will certainly make a refund."

Though the Ontario address is listed on the campaign finance report, CanaRx lists a Detroit post office box as its address on its Web site, http://www.canarx.com.

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... County Democratic Chairman Brian Quail said he believes the accusation simply involves a clerical error and that the donation was legally made by an American-based subsidiary of the company.

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FDA Warns CanaRx Services About Its Illegal Internet Website and Mail Operation Obtaining Unapproved and Potentially Risky Drugs from Canada
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a warning letter to CanaRx Services, Inc., of Detroit, Mich., notifying the firm that the agency considers its operations to be illegal and a risk to public health. FDA’s warning letter states that CanaRx runs an Internet website and mail operation that illegally causes the shipment of prescription drugs from a Canadian pharmacy into the U.S., subjecting Americans to risky imported drug products and making misleading assurances to consumers about the safety of its drugs.

"Firms like this should not continue to profit through illegal actions that put the health of the American public at risk," said Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Commissioner of Food and Drugs. "Our investigation has shown that CanaRx operates a drug purchasing arrangement that channels drugs through companies other than licensed pharmacies and does not consistently use shipping practices that ensure its drugs are safe and effective."

FDA has long been concerned that medications purchased by U.S. consumers from foreign, unregulated drug outlets pose a growing potential danger. CanaRx Services and similar companies often state incorrectly to consumers that their prescriptions are "FDA approved" or use similar language, which could lead consumers to conclude mistakenly that the prescription drugs sold by the companies have the same assurance of safety and effectiveness as drugs actually regulated by the FDA.

For example, FDA has evidence demonstrating that CanaRx shipped insulin, a product that should be stored under refrigerated conditions, in a manner that did not ensure adherence with the storage conditions specified in FDA approved labeling - potentially compromising the safety and effectiveness of the insulin.

State pharmacy boards are responsible for determining whether pharmacies operating within the state are doing so in compliance with state law. In the U.S., state law requires proper licensing for a pharmacy to sell prescription drugs. In this case, it appears that CanaRx is not a licensed Canadian pharmacy subject to regulatory oversight, and so may place patients at additional risk.

Because the medications obtained and shipped by operations such as CanaRx are not subject to FDA’s safety oversight, they could be outdated, contaminated, counterfeit or contain too much or too little of the active ingredient. In this case, these risks are heightened by the fact that many of the products CanaRx sells to U.S. consumers are indicated for serious medical conditions.

In addition, foreign dispensers of drugs to American citizens may provide patients with incorrect medications, incorrect strengths, medicines that should not be used in people with certain conditions or with other medications or medications without proper directions for use.

FDA is working closely with its partners in the individual states in support of their efforts to curtail illegal and potentially dangerous operations, especially when they involve misleading claims about drug safety.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which is urging FDA to assist in acting against these schemes has stated, "Allowing unlicensed practitioners to dispense non-FDA approved medicines without regard for patient health and safety sets a dangerous precedent that puts Americans at risk."

Although many legitimate Internet pharmacies provide safe and possibly more convenient access to prescription services, foreign Internet pharmacies selling to the U.S. operate outside the law. FDA provides guidance to consumers on buying prescription drugs safely over the Internet at http://www.fda.gov/oc/buyonline.

Despite continued efforts to identify ways to assure the safety of purchased from foreign sources, the FDA for many years has stated that it cannot assure the safety of prescription drugs that are obtained outside its comprehensive regulatory system.

CanaRx has fifteen working days to respond to FDA’s warning letter. FDA will take appropriate action, including collaborative actions with individual states and foreign governments, to stop similar illegal activities by this or other similar firms.