Mike's international drug products buying experience

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WVUPharm2007

WVUPharm2007

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I thought that maybe some of you would find this interesting.

A lot of people have trouble affording medications and need to look overseas/Canada to get them.

I'm sure none of you care, but being born into a family of chain tobacco/"other substance" smokers, I have had asthma for years. I take Advair. The last time tried to go off of it, I was in an urgent care facility within a month or so. I do in fact bloody need it.

Being as though I have no health insurance, there is no way in hell I can pay the $215 dollars a month to purchase it. That's just about how much I pay in rent.

So to the international drug gray market I went.

What I find interesting is that there are actually pretty reputable companies that keep tabs on all of these Canadian/Australian/European drug peddlers. I chose a pharmacy that dispensed out of licensed pharmacies in Australia, Germany, and Canada (Manitoba...I looked them up.)

The weird thing is how easy it is to get a script. You just have to scan a copy of it to them via email. I have a friend that writes me a continuous script for this stuff to keep me going in the interim until I get settled with prescription insurance. He tells me that they didn't call him or anything to check up.

The cost for me was $165 for three 60 dose Diskuses. The same in America is about $650.

A company out of Manitoba charged my credit card and told me it was shipped...expect it in 10-16 days.

Exactly 16 days later, it shows up today. Shipped from Germany.

Here is the box...shipping label on front.
zn30p1.jpg


The trio of boxes.
153qs8k.jpg


Here is a closeup of the "Seretide" box.
2le0z0z.jpg


And the diskus itself (I took a dose. I'm not dead.):

fu1508.jpg


Seretide is the Australian/EU/Indian trade name. The markings, lot numbers, and fonts all match up with the spent "OEM" Advair diskuses I have sitting around.

.....

Overall, it was a painless process. I see why people do it. You get drugs at 75% off...and mailed from a registered pharmacy in Germany...where their healthcare is better, anyway.
 
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Based on the number of drug recalls and subsequent shortages this year alone, I would have to say: I doubt other countries can manufacture drugs any worse than we can in the U.S.


*thinks maybe a home succinylcholine lab would be more profitable than a meth lab*
 
spacecowgirl said:
Based on the number of drug recalls and subsequent shortages this year alone, I would have to say: I doubt other countries can manufacture drugs any worse than we can in the U.S.


*thinks maybe a home succinylcholine lab would be more profitable than a meth lab*
Click to expand...

I'm going to start making sux and propofol in my garage. You want in?
 
Interesting indeed. Cheaper drugs from Germany.

spacecowgirl said:
Based on the number of drug recalls and subsequent shortages this year alone, I would have to say: I doubt other countries can manufacture drugs any worse than we can in the U.S.


*thinks maybe a home succinylcholine lab would be more profitable than a meth lab*
Click to expand...


More importantly, and this is the overwhelming pessimist in me taking control, suppose there had been a drug recall of Mikey's Seretide. I wonder how and even if he would ever be notified. In such cases, I wonder what the laws are; not just in Germany but internationally.
 
All4MyDaughter said:
I'm going to start making sux and propofol in my garage. You want in?
Click to expand...

Damn, if I could count how many times I got sent to the floors/units on a "special mission" to find hidden sux bottles and/or change the par levels....i'd run out of fingers.
 
samuricool said:
Interesting indeed. Cheaper drugs from Germany.




More importantly, and this is the overwhelming pessimist in me taking control, suppose there had been a drug recall of Mikey's Seretide. I wonder how and even if he would ever be notified. In such cases, I wonder what the laws are; not just in Germany but internationally.
Click to expand...

Oh, great! Now I'm going to die. Wooooonderful.

....

And I just thought of something else. Why the hell are the labels in English if its shipped from Germany?
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
And I just thought of something else. Why the hell are the labels in English if its shipped from Germany?
Click to expand...

Never been to Europe? English is everywhere, especially on food and drug products. I didn't believe my (European) wife until I went there. It's like the language of international commerce. Until China invades and kills us all.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
Did you remember to look in the charge nurse's drawer? You know she has a stash somewhere.
Click to expand...

Shoot, when JC came to town, it was like roaches scrambling when the light turned on. We found stashed tubex's with expiration dates going back to the last JC visit. GOod thing everything got cleaned up before they came.
 
confettiflyer said:
Shoot, when JC came to town, it was like roaches scrambling when the light turned on. We found stashed tubex's with expiration dates going back to the last JC visit. GOod thing everything got cleaned up before they came.
Click to expand...

lmao, those pricks do keep us honest... :meanie:
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
I thought that maybe some of you would find this interested in this.

A lot of people have trouble affording medications and need to look overseas/Canada to get them.

I'm sure none of you care, but being born into a family of chain tobacco/"other substance" smokers, I have had asthma for years. I take Advair. The last time tried to go off of it, I was in an urgent care facility within a month or so. I do in fact bloody need it.

Being as though I have no health insurance, there is no way in hell I can pay the $215 dollars a month to purchase it. That's just about how much I pay in rent.

So to the international drug gray market I went.

What I find interesting is that there are actually pretty reputable companies that keep tabs on all of these Canadian/Australian/European drug peddlers. I chose a pharmacy that dispensed out of licensed pharmacies in Australia, Germany, and Canada (Manitoba...I looked them up.)

The weird thing is how easy it is to get a script. You just have to scan a copy of it to them via email. I have a friend that writes me a continuous script for this stuff to keep me going in the interim until I get settled with prescription insurance. He tells me that they didn't call him or anything to check up.

The cost for me was $165 for three 60 dose Diskuses. The same in America is about $650.

A company out of Manitoba charged my credit card and told me it was shipped...expect it in 10-16 days.

Exactly 16 days later, it shows up today. Shipped from Germany.

Here is the box...shipping label on front.
zn30p1.jpg


The trio of boxes.
153qs8k.jpg


Here is a closeup of the "Seretide" box.
2le0z0z.jpg


And the diskus itself (I took a dose. I'm not dead.):

fu1508.jpg


Seretide is the Australian/EU/Indian trade name. The markings, lot numbers, and fonts all match up with the spent "OEM" Advair diskuses I have sitting around.

.....

Overall, it was a painless process. I see why people do it. You get drugs at 75% off...and mailed from a registered pharmacy in Germany...where their healthcare is better, anyway.
Click to expand...

You are still unemployed?
 
WVU: Check your PM 🙂

More importantly, and this is the overwhelming pessimist in me taking control, suppose there had been a drug recall of Mikey's Seretide. I wonder how and even if he would ever be notified. In such cases, I wonder what the laws are; not just in Germany but internationally.
Click to expand...
Do US Pharmacies keep track of who gets what lot number of a drug? Type 1 drug recalls are pretty rare, and even then, not usually that serious (more along the lines of "The risk slightly outweighs the benefits" rather than "You stand a good chance of dying if you don't stop this tomorrow").

I'm sure the German laws (and even culture) are tighter than the US ones. Have you ever been to one of their pharmacies? No stock bottles, no handling of pills, everything is in 28-day packs.

I think the smart thing to do would be to set up a Google Alert for the lot number of the products you buy/use if you're that worried.

I will say that I'm confused as to the origin of these inhalers. I would think the German market would be big enough to have their own labelling. The temperature is in Celsius only, eliminating England. Perhaps Irish, NZ, AU, Africa, hard to say. I would hope the more modernized countries would have their own equivalent to the NDC. There's no country-specific labelling, so I'm guessing it's a general-purposed ("generic") export product from GSK.

WVU: What was the dating like on the product?
 
Last edited:
Seretide is the brand in the UK. Asthmatics pay the NHS charge of £7.20
(8-10 USD) even though may be prescribed several packs. Those under 18, over 60 pay nothing. Those on welfare, unemployment allowance pay nothing. People living in Wales pay nothing.
The rest of us pay via taxation.
johnep
 
johnep34 said:
Seretide is the brand in the UK. Asthmatics pay the NHS charge of £7.20
(8-10 USD) even though may be prescribed several packs. Those under 18, over 60 pay nothing. Those on welfare, unemployment allowance pay nothing. People living in Wales pay nothing.
The rest of us pay via taxation.
johnep
Click to expand...

Stop teasing me with your country and its health system that isn't run by the principles of sociopathy.
 
johnep34 said:
Seretide is the brand in the UK. Asthmatics pay the NHS charge of £7.20
(8-10 USD) even though may be prescribed several packs. Those under 18, over 60 pay nothing. Those on welfare, unemployment allowance pay nothing. People living in Wales pay nothing.
The rest of us pay via taxation.
johnep
Click to expand...

You're just specifying the charge. What does it actually cost the UK government?
Or are you saying that WVU could pay someone in the UK £20 and save even more money?
 
SomeGuy said:
Do US Pharmacies keep track of who gets what lot number of a drug?
Click to expand...
Exactly. If the product is already out among consumers, they are SOL whether it comes from New Jersy or New Delhi.

WVUPharm2007 said:
Stop teasing me with your country and its health system that isn't run by the principles of sociopathy.
Click to expand...

:laugh: But only people who make bad personal choices get chronic diseases or cancer. Didn't you get the memo that we are bad, lazy people?
 
I hope these drugs are NOT counterfeit drugs...we were just talking in class a few lectures ago about people selling counterfeit drugs online for cheap. It's something like 50% of drugs sold online is counterfeit. 😱 We were recommended to stay away from the internet for drugs.
 
Soon we'll be able to buy everything over the internet.
 
confettiflyer said:
Shoot, when JC came to town, it was like roaches scrambling when the light turned on. We found stashed tubex's with expiration dates going back to the last JC visit. GOod thing everything got cleaned up before they came.
Click to expand...
Mariska Hargitay, Guru Pitka! :meanie:
 
SHC1984 said:
I hope these drugs are NOT counterfeit drugs...we were just talking in class a few lectures ago about people selling counterfeit drugs online for cheap. It's something like 50% of drugs sold online is counterfeit. 😱 We were recommended to stay away from the internet for drugs.
Click to expand...

They ain't. I'd be having trouble breathing by now if they were...

But, hey, if I die a horrible death, we'll know what did it!

This or bad luck.

Here's a peer reviewed article about this issue I found.
 
Last edited:
Good report.

I'd bet that many of the "Viagra" products had API, it just wasn't sildenafil, but rather some of the analogues that show up quite often in such products, like aminosildenafil. I'm sure it hasn't gone through the same kind of testing, but I haven't read of any cases of people dropping like flies while taking it.

I can't wait until we just buy our APIs from overseas, and take it to Capsulers R US to get it FT-IR'd and capsuled. It'll save us a ton over these evergreened rehashes of existing products.
 
SomeGuy said:
WVU: Check your PM 🙂


Do US Pharmacies keep track of who gets what lot number of a drug? Type 1 drug recalls are pretty rare, and even then, not usually that serious (more along the lines of "The risk slightly outweighs the benefits" rather than "You stand a good chance of dying if you don't stop this tomorrow").

I'm sure the German laws (and even culture) are tighter than the US ones. Have you ever been to one of their pharmacies? No stock bottles, no handling of pills, everything is in 28-day packs.

I think the smart thing to do would be to set up a Google Alert for the lot number of the products you buy/use if you're that worried.

I will say that I'm confused as to the origin of these inhalers. I would think the German market would be big enough to have their own labelling. The temperature is in Celsius only, eliminating England. Perhaps Irish, NZ, AU, Africa, hard to say. I would hope the more modernized countries would have their own equivalent to the NDC. There's no country-specific labelling, so I'm guessing it's a general-purposed ("generic") export product from GSK.

WVU: What was the dating like on the product?
Click to expand...
yeah, our european countries do have their own systems. Im holding a box of Seretide in my hand right now. Spain's id number for it is 804757. Also if you want to know if its a legend drug or a controlled substance, just look at the circle that is located right after the number. A full black circle means controlled substance. Anything else is legend!

WVU- Do you see a GSK hologram on the box that you have? It should be all over the box when you hold it up to the light
 
SomeGuy said:
I can't wait until we just buy our APIs from overseas, and take it to Capsulers R US to get it FT-IR'd and capsuled. It'll save us a ton over these evergreened rehashes of existing products.
Click to expand...

Many of our APIs alreadly come from overseas. Many, if not most, major pharma companies have manufacturing sites in places like India, China, Puerto Rico (technically still overseas), etc. APIs and other excipients are made overseas by FDA-inspected facilities, and formulated here in the US so that the manufacturer can put that "Made in USA" label on the drug.

I used to work in API manufacturing industry prior to pharm school. It was funny to read some of the warning letters from the FDA to overseas facilities. For example, one place in China was told to fix a hole (couple feet in diameter) in the roof of the manufacturing area. I read one telling some site that they had a dead rat in a rat trap in the manufacturing area. Good stuff. Just close your eyes, pop it in, swallow, and pray you aren't ingesting rat.........
 
grap112ler said:
Many of our APIs alreadly come from overseas. Many, if not most, major pharma companies have manufacturing sites in places like India, China, Puerto Rico (technically still overseas), etc. APIs and other excipients are made overseas by FDA-inspected facilities, and formulated here in the US so that the manufacturer can put that "Made in USA" label on the drug.

I used to work in API manufacturing industry prior to pharm school. It was funny to read some of the warning letters from the FDA to overseas facilities. For example, one place in China was told to fix a hole (couple feet in diameter) in the roof of the manufacturing area. I read one telling some site that they had a dead rat in a rat trap in the manufacturing area. Good stuff. Just close your eyes, pop it in, swallow, and pray you aren't ingesting rat.........
Click to expand...
Oh, I'm well aware 🙂
I've toured a plant and a compounding supplier in Canada, and yes, virtually everything is China or India, API and excipients, though I was surprised to see some Italian stuff too.

re: rats and such, thank god for fractional distillation and other separation techniques. I did always wonder what the other 1% is in the 99% pure stuff 😉

I was joking about the end-consumer buying the APIs they need for their pills, perhaps making a poly-pill, and having some local capsuling store in a strip plaza put it all together for you, like photo development 🙂

I recall an NYT article where the FDA often had a hard time finding the places because they weren't on a map, or multiple places had the same name, turned out to be an island somewhere else, etc.
 
Other than the name, it looks identical to the label on the Advair Discus I dispense - our labels only have the celsius temps on products.

How much is a Symbicort stateside? I pay between $80-90/turbuhaler.
 
Pharmavixen said:
Other than the name, it looks identical to the label on the Advair Discus I dispense - our labels only have the celsius temps on products.

How much is a Symbicort stateside? I pay between $80-90/turbuhaler.
Click to expand...

Symbicort costs about $67 for hospitals.
 
I'm talking retail price - I get it on rx (I'm another asthmatic from a family of smokers). And it's the 120-dose size. The hospital size is 60 doses, right?
 
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