There are some interesting reports this week about prescription medications imported from foreign countries. As we have noted many times, these drugs are almost always illegal, and are very often quite dangerous.

There is a New Zealand report of illegal imports that are not the medications that were advertised or ordered. In some cases, the medicines delivered were completely different drugs, leading to at least one death. In other cases, the drugs contained a main ingredient of bat and pigeon guano. Apparently, you get what you pay for. Many sites offer pills that normally may cost 20-30 dollars, for less than 5 dollars. There is no way that authentic medications can be sold for 80-90% off of their legitimate market value. Prices that low probably mean they are made of pigeon droppings.

A related article about illegal imports in the US, and how they relate to the Medicare ‘donut hole,’ addresses the illegality of foreign imports. The Medicare coverage gap, called the “donut hole,” is a situation where a patient under Medicare Part D will get some insurance coverage for medications up to $2,380. After that point, the patient receives no assistance with drug costs, until their expenses exceed $4,550, when “catastrophic coverage” begins. This expense gap leaves the patient completely ‘out-of-pocket’ for thousands of dollars in medications, and this is when many patients look for bargains. Many go to websites for ‘Canadian’ pharmacies to save some money, but then find their shipments coming from other places, like India or China. There is no way to know if these drugs are real, or effective, or even safe. From the article: “…nearly all prescription drugs imported into the U.S. for personal use — which lack approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—are illegal.”

KwikMed is the only online pharmacy that is licensed to prescribe based on an online medical history, and only delivers authentic, original-manufacturer, FDA-approved medications from US distributers.