CANADIAN BARGAINS HIT HOME VALLEY BUSINESS ENABLING LOCALS TO GET CHEAPER DRUGS.Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer WOODLAND HILLS - Yung-Tso Hsing forgets that the one pill she swallows to help her remember costs about $5 a day. So she relies on a mail-order discount drugstore to fill her prescription for Aricept, a medication that treats the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. . ``She saves about a dollar for every pill. That's a lot of money for my parents,'' said Kathy Hsing, Yung-Tso's daughter-in-law. ``And just because the drug is from Canada doesn't mean the quality is any different.'' The Northridge family, along with 2 million other Americans, are flocking to stores around the country that help people buy prescription drugs prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, from Canada. The lure: significant discounts coupled with the ease of receiving medication by mail. Discount Canada Meds opened its doors three weeks ago in Woodland Hills. The company has a relationship with a pharmacy in Manitoba, Canada, that fills the prescriptions it receives via facsimile. David Sperling, owner of Discount Canada Meds, said he serves patients who walk in off the street, but they need to have a valid prescription from a doctor. ``Let's get one thing straight though, we are not a pharmacy. Nor do we claim to be pharmacists,'' said Ellen Sperling, David's business partner and wife. Discount Canada Meds doesn't handle the drugs, either. The Canadian pharmacy ships all orders directly to the patients, mitigating some of the legal issues that have recently surfaced regarding this practice. Federal officials who regulate the distribution and sale of prescription drugs have begun to target stores that import medication. Discount Drugs of Canada is one such Florida-based Internet and mail-order business that has been threatened with criminal charges and warned that their stores could be shut down, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. The Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. . But the Sperlings say their business is completely legal. They have a valid business license, pay their taxes and run a notary notary or notary public Public officer who certifies and attests to the authenticity of writings (e.g., deeds) and takes affidavits, depositions, and protests of negotiable instruments. service. ``There are no laws against what we do,'' David Sperling said. Brad Stone Brad Stone may refer to:
``The practice of bringing foreign versions of U.S. products into the country is illegal,'' he said. ``To what degree someone is doing that is certainly a question that needs to be answered.'' U.S. pharmacists U.S. Pharmacist is a monthly academic journal with the purpose of providing pharmacists and health professionals clinical peer-reviewed articles. The magazine is owned by Jobson Publishing. External links
``It really hurts our customer base and I don't think what these people are doing should be legal in the U.S.,'' Kandela said. ``And patients, especially the elderly, should not have to go to Canada to buy drugs, even though these pharmaceutical companies charge significantly less over there.'' For example, Prevacid, a drug used to treat heartburn heartburn, burning sensation beneath the breastbone, also called pyrosis. Heartburn does not indicate heart malfunction but results from nervous tension or overindulgence in food or drink. , costs about $121 in the U.S. for 30 pills. Discount Canada Meds offers the same drug through a Canadian pharmacy for $63.64. The Sperlings believe their business could be perceived as threat to pharmacies but ``if someone is sick, they need to fill their prescriptions right away,'' David Sperling said. ``That's something only a pharmacy can do. It could take two to four weeks to receive medication from Canada via mail.'' But efficiency isn't the only difference. David Gross David Jonathan Gross (born February 19, 1941 in Washington, D.C.) is an American particle physicist and string theorist (although he's stated to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo, on 09/27/2006, that the second area is included in the first one). , a senior policy adviser for AARP AARP, a nonprofit, nonpartisan national organization dedicated to "enriching the experience of aging"; membership is open to people age 50 or older. Founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus as American Association of Retired Persons, AARP now has over 30 million , said guaranteeing the quality of a Canadian drug is difficult without the FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. in the loop. ``The drugs coming from Canada could be tampered with. And people are taking a risk in whether these drugs are even legitimate in the first place,'' Gross said. ``But most of these issues wouldn't exist if there was a Medicare drug benefit. That's worth focusing on right now.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) David Sperling, owner of Discount Canada Meds in Woodland Hills, looks through his storefront window Friday. The business has a relationship with a pharmacy in Canada that fills prescriptions it receives via facsimile. Joel Lugavere/Special to the Daily News |
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