Fwd: U.S. drug boycott threat called 'ridiculous'; fear-mongering, nothing more,

[Guest guest]

Even better is to get off these poisons in the first place.

 

Live longer, be healthier, have a better quality of life, use something natural

to heal and live.

 

Frank

 

luckypig <luckypig wrote:

" @ TheMultiD "

" luckypig "

Sun, 10 Aug 2003 15:32:45 -0400

U.S. drug boycott threat called 'ridiculous';

" fear-mongering, nothing more, "

 

U.S. drug boycott threat called 'ridiculous'

>

> By LEONARD ZEHR

> BIOTECHNOLOGY REPORTER

>

> UPDATED AT 1:45 PM EDT

> It's inconceivable that multinational drug companies will stop shipping

> pharmaceuticals to Canada as part of a political battle to break the back

> of Canadian Internet pharmacies that supply American consumers with drugs,

> industry sources say.

>

> " It's fear-mongering, nothing more, " said Laurie Gauthier, president of

> drug wholesaler Prairie Co-operative of Calgary, referring to drug

industry

> threats making the rounds in Washington yesterday where the U.S. Congress

> continues to debate allowing Americans to have access to lower-priced

drugs

> from other countries.

>

> " These [drug] companies have Canadian patents and if they stop selling or

> if significant shortages of patented products crop up, the Canadian

> government can step in and have a generic drug maker supply that product, "

> he said.

>

> " That's the last thing the drug industry wants to see happen. "

>

> Jeff Connell, a spokesman for the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical

> Association, agrees.

>

> " Any talk of a boycott is ridiculous, " he said, adding that in terms of a

> backlash, " it would rank up there with the drug industry decision to sue

> the South African government for importing [lower-priced] AIDS drugs. "

>

> While Ottawa does have the ability to issue so-called compulsory licences

> to generic companies under the Patent Act, Mr. Connell suggests that

" we're

> still a very long way from there. "

>

> Nevertheless, Health Canada has shown it isn't afraid to go up against the

> multinationals.

>

> Citing a national emergency two years ago, the agency asked generic drug

> giant Apotex Inc. of Toronto to make the anti-anthrax pill Cipro after

> patent holder Bayer Inc. initially claimed it couldn't satisfy Ottawa's

> needs to stockpile the drug after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

>

> The latest salvo in the Internet pharmacy war was fired by Pfizer Inc.,

> which last week informed 46 pharmacies in Canada that they must now buy

> their medicines from the company instead of wholesalers.

>

> The world's largest drug maker joined GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AstraZeneca PLC

> and Wyeth in trying to stem the flow of mail-order pharmaceuticals from

> Canada to the United States, where an estimated one million Americans are

> saving anywhere from one-third to one-half because of Canadian government

> price controls and a favourable exchange rate.

>

> While discounting the threat of a boycott, Mr. Connell said he is

concerned

> that the drug lobby has earmarked money to put pressure on the Canadian

> government to end price controls.

>

> " The issue is to lower prices in the U.S., not raise prices in Canada, " he

> said.

>

> " What reimportation does is threaten drug prices in the most lucrative

> market in the world, which is the U.S., and which also has the highest

drug

> prices in the world, " he added.

>

> In a statement yesterday, Glaxo's Canadian subsidiary said reimportation

> legislation is still a " work in progress in the U.S. Congress and has not

> been passed into law. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to speculate on

> outcomes or scenarios at this time. "

>

> Two weeks ago, in a rare defeat for the drug lobby, the U.S. House of

> Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give bulk

> distributors as well as individual Americans access to buy lower-priced

> drugs abroad.

>

> It and a Senate bill, which requires the Secretary of Health to guarantee

> the safety of drug imports, are scheduled to go to committee after Labour

> Day as part of a compromise plan to add prescription drug coverage to

Medicare.

>

> " The genie is out of the bottle, " Mr. Gauthier said. " Americans have seen

> prescription drugs produced by U.S. companies shipped into Canada and then

> shipped back at lower prices. "

>

> According to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical sales tracking firm, annual

> mail-order drug sales from Canada have reached $650-million (U.S.).

>

> " Probably not even 1 per cent of Americans are buying medicines in Canada

> today but the danger for the drug industry is that if they don't stop it

> now, it could grow to 20 per cent in five years and then it would have an

> impact on the bottom line, " Mr. Gauthier said.

>

> Despite Big Pharma's crackdown, insiders say Canadian mail-order

pharmacies

> are alive and well.

>

> " Pharmacies that aren't on the blacklist have become sort of middlemen,

> supplying the mail-order companies as best they can for a fee, " the source

> said. " Glaxo products are now coming into Canada from New Zealand [and

> being sold to Americans] because they're even cheaper than the Canadian

> prices. "

>

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030808/RDRUG08

/Business/Idx

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I would like to say that my grandmother had chronic kidney

infections for the last 3 yrs or so. I mean every couple of months.

Her doc did the usual sulfa drug course, which, HELLO, 3 yrs of

infections obviously wasn't treating. During one visit she had to

see the nurse practitioner, who told her to take vit C. She hasn't

had one since. It's been about a year.

 

Debi

 

 

> Kidney Diseases and Problems:

> Inflammation and Infection

> The role of massive doses of vitamin C is profound in this case,

providing

> prevention and treatment at saturation levels. Since vitamin C is

filtered

> and " wasted " through the kidneys, its is a virtually custom-made

therapy.

>