Information regarding quality of Indian drugs

[trojan ska]

I received a transplant for a kidney in February 2009. Things are going well so far.

My roommate had a son who was sick last year and he conveyed his experience buying a non FDA approved drug that his doctors wanted them to try. He went to a website called canadameds.com I believe. I visited the site and noticed amazing prices for ant-rejection medications from India. I also have a friend who is a pharmacist here in the states from Zimbabwe originally. She told me that most of the drugs in the US use raw materials that come via India. In fact companies like Pfizer have most of their plants outside of the US.

My question is whether there are any people on this website who know or have had any experience with buying drugs from outside the US. Were there success stories or any horrible experiences?

In 2013 I will be off of Medicare and unless I get a job with health insurance I would be interested in saving money by buying my drugs elsewhere. The American prices are completely ridiculous!! Some of the Indian prices were at an incredible fraction of the price.

My pharmacist friend said when she was in Africa many of the drugs they bough were from India or China and worked fine. She said the American media deters people by putting out horror stories of bad things happening with foreign drugs when in fact the FDA approves dangerous drugs all the time. She also said that most of the drugs in the US have some foreign hands in them anyway. She was concerned about drugs like Viagra being purchased outside the US but felt that lifesaving meds made from Indian were probably good and were worth a try seeing as price might be prohibitive here in the US.

Anyone have any input or experiences to share?

Thankyou

Scott

[paul.karen]

I am concerned your friend says dont buy drugs like viagra from outside the US.  But go ahead and buy life saving drugs?  Sounds strange to me to say the least.

As for not being uninsured after 2013.  Dont worry about that either.  We now have government run heathcare so you will be well taken care of.

[trojan ska]

Thanks for replying.

I think her thought was that there are scammers out there in the 'male enhancement' drug industry. There is profit to be made in selling fake viagra while no incentive in selling drugs like tacrolimus that don't work. Viagra and male enhancement are ripe for scammers.

I'm also not sure how universal healthcare is going to pan out. I also don't underestimate the ability of conservatives to muck things up seeing as they may very well win a majority of seats in November since they are a fickle bunch who actually think 9.5% unemployment a year into office while inheriting a recession makes Obama a failure.

I'm curious to hear if anyone on this forum has experienced buying drugs outside of the U.S.

[okarol]

My husband has bought migraine medicine, Imitrix, from Canada because our insurance limits the amount covered and it is much more expensive in the US to purchase it. They are the same pills, same manufacturer, just cheaper in Canada.

I do not know anyone who would take a chance on the immunosuppressants - especially if they are not the same maker.

[rocker]

I would speak to your doctor honestly about this.  I have heard from several nephs, story after story of transplants lost because the recipient could not afford anti-rejection meds in the US.  Your neph's first priority should be your survival, and the survival of your graft.  You'll probably get a disclaimer like "I would never advise a patient to take anything other than US medicines..." but it will likely be followed by something like "....but if someone were to do something like that, I would recommend..."

 - rocker