Consumer Groups Slam Glaxo

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Consumer Groups Slam Glaxo

Drug Maker Blocks Americans' Access to Affordable Drugs

 

February 12, 2003

Escalating the battle against drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, a coalition

of 10 leading American and Canadian healthcare and business

organizations has begun a national advertising campaign lambasting

the drugmaker for its ban keeping American seniors from accessing

its affordable prescription drugs from Canada.

 

To launch the campaign, the group has taken a full-page ad in The

New York Times encouraging consumers and healthcare professionals to

work to reverse the ban. The ad asks readers to contact their

legislators to seek their support, to complain to Glaxo's consumer

hotline and CEO, and to consult with their doctor and see if there

are alternative drugs to Glaxo's if they are now sourcing Glaxo

drugs from a Canadian pharmacy.

 

In addition, the ad invites them to sell any Glaxo stock they own or

control in pension funds, and to switch from Glaxo\'s over-the-

counter treatments to comparable products made by other

pharmaceutical companies.

 

If the ban remains, the coalition says that other major drugmakers

are likely to follow the company's lead and, ultimately, strip

Americans' long-established access to Canadian drugs in order to

build the industry's sales and profit margins.

 

" With this campaign, we're delivering our message loud and clear to

Glaxo, that you cannot steal access to affordable drugs from those

who are dying and expect to get away with it, " said Jimm Axline,

president, National Association of the Terminally Ill, a nonprofit

organization serving families facing terminal illnesses.

 

" We're urging consumers and health professionals to call their

Senators and Congressman and Glaxo's U.S. CEO, and tell them to give

our patients back their affordable drugs. "

 

The coalition charged that Glaxo has enacted the ban solely to boost

their revenues and profits.

 

" Strong profit growth is Glaxo's chief concern, not the quality of

care and well-being of seniors who cannot pay the exorbitant

American prices for their life-saving drugs, " said Dr. Elizabeth

Wennar, spokesperson for the Coalition for Access to Affordable

Prescription Drugs, a Vermont-based advocacy group.

 

" If patient care was a genuine worry, Glaxo would have come forward

much earlier. They wouldn't have waited nearly three years while

Canadian pharmacies have grown to serve millions of uninsured and

underinsured Americans. Simply put, Glaxo wants a much bigger piece

of the sales action. "

 

Coalition members are:

 

Action Alliance of Senior Citizens, senior advocacy organization,

Philadelphia, PA (www.actionseniors.org)

Senior Action Network, senior advocacy organization, San Francisco

(www.senioractionnetwork.org)

New York Statewide Senior Action Council, senior advocacy group,

Albany, NY (www.nysenior.org)

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the nation's largest AIDS organization,

Los Angeles, CA (www.aidshealth.org)

Canadameds.com, mail order pharmacy (www.narvre.com)

CrossBorderPharmacy.com, mail order pharmacy

(www.crossborderpharmacy.com)

Canadian International Pharmacy Association, a national organization

of mail order pharmacies serving Canadian and American consumers in

need (www.ciparx.com)

National Association of the Terminally Ill, nonprofit group helping

families that face terminal illnesses (www.terminallyill.org)

Coalition for Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs, advocacy

group based in Manchester, VT (www.caarx.com)

 

Thousands of our patients are suffering from cancer, multiple

sclerosis, diabetes and other very serious life-threatening

illnesses, " said Axline. " In effect, Glaxo is saying to our

patients, 'We don't care that you're going to have to pay double or

triple what you've been paying in Canada for your meds. We want our

money and, we're gonna get it.' "

 

Discount Programs Too Little for Too Many

GlaxoSmithKline participates in two prescription discount card

programs which, according to the drug company, provide a 30% or less

savings off retail prices to consumers. Yet, while the drug company

says its discounts are " equivalent " to those in Canada, that's

inaccurate, according to the coalition.

 

For example, Glaxo's asthma drug Flovent is 50% off U.S. retail

prices at Canadian pharmacies. The coalition says that a savings of

even $5 or $10 more each month off their drugs can make the drastic

difference between whether consumers can afford their drugs or not

buy them at all.

 

More than 1 in 5 adults (22%) didn't take their drugs as prescribed

in the past year because of the cost, according to a Harris

Interactive survey (Nov. 2001).

 

Plus, coalition members complain that hundreds of thousands of

working families, the poor and disabled cannot get any prescriptjon

discounts whatsoever under the current programs available due to

their restrictive nature. Dave Robertson, Pharmacist and CEO of

CrossBorderPharmacy.com, has some real concerns that many of the

patients without appropriate drug plans, that have come to rely on

his organization for their medications, will not quality for any of

the alterative programs, and will be left in the position of being

unable to afford their prescription drugs.

 

Drug Companies Scared Of Price Controls, Medicare Prescription

Benefit

Drug expenses have been one of the fastest growing healthcare

expenses, having climbed more than 17 percent annually from 1998 to

2001, according to the nonprofit National Institute for Healthcare

Management Foundation.

 

Industry experts and The New York Times (Nov. 21, 2002) believe that

the drug industry feels strengthened now that Republicans control

Congress and are hardened against any efforts to lower drug costs.

While publicly the drug industry says that it is working with the

Bush Administration toward providing a Medicare prescription drug

benefit, many believe privately, the industry hopes that such a move

will never occur.

 

" Probably nothing scares the drug industry more than there being a

Medicare prescription drug benefit, " said Daren Jorgenson,

pharmacist at coalition member Canadameds.com, a Canadian pharmacy

serving 200,000 Americans in need. " If that happens, they know it

will open up the floodgates for possible future drug price controls. "

 

Other Groups Ask Consumers to Avoid Glaxo OTC Products

The ad campaign follows news stories reported last week that several

U.S. seniors groups and Canadian pharmacies, including the New York

Statewide Senior Action Council and Seniors Action Alliance in

Philadelphia, near Glaxo's U.S. headquarters location, have

encouraged patients to consider purchasing alternative products to

Glaxo's over-the-counter products, such as Contac cold medicine,

Geritol iron supplement, Sominex sleep treatment and Tums antacid.

 

Glaxo's Profits Expected to Climb

Coincidentally, also on Wednesday, Glaxo is expected to announce its

annual 2002 worldwide sales and profit figures. The British drug

giant will likely report more than $30 billion in sales, and in

excess of $9 billion in pre-tax profits.

 

http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/glaxo_boycott.html