Cheap Drugs and Subscription Payment Trap

DrugStoreBestBuys and Pharmacy Shark Patrol receive daily requests to comment on the performance of online pharmacies.

We have quoted from many examples in the past - here is a recent enquiry from Kris K from Illinios worth discussing :

To: drugstorebestbuys.com
Sent: Thursday, 30 March 2006 8:40 AM
Subject: usrxleader.com

Have you heard anything good or bad about this pharmacy usrxleader.com, they seem so cheep! Thanks K.

This is the fast response from Melissa our customer service community manager :

From: Webmaster DSBB
Sent: Thursday, 30 March 2006 9:17 AM
To: Kris K...........
Subject: RE: usrxleader.com

This is a well disguised subscription pharmacy!

AVOID!!! or you will find a monthly fee of $19.95 on your credit card that is hard to stop.
Please visit DrugStoreBestBuys scam resource information centre

Is is wise to be wary when prices are TOO cheap. Often relates to non delivery.
This site was started in 2005-08-26 so it is a newcomer.

There is no affiliate program which makes it hard to monitor and easy for it to cheat and get away with it for longer.

Contact us information is very inadequate. Suggesting an avoidance of customer support - can be a sign of a scammer.

From the site:USrxLeader.com is an affiliated website to frontierpharmacies.com and the order process, customer support and any other user interaction will be handled by frontierpharmacies.com.

Frontier Pharmacies is on our scammers list due to non delivery.

The contact details are US so that is encouraging but can just be the webdeveloper.

Hope this helps. For peace of mind, please refer to the DrugStoreBestBuys online pharmacies performance ratings list to select from pharmacies where you can buy without being scammed.

Hope this helps. Have a great day.

Melissa

FDA Sends Approvable Letter For Thelin

The FDA sent an "approvable letter" to Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s for their new drug Thelin. Providing Thelin can meet certain conditions, it can be approved for treating a rare, often-fatal lung condition.

Thelin has the same active ingrediants as Pfizer's Viagra, sildenafil citrate.

The FDA did not disclose the conditions, however, the Houston-based Encysive Pharmaceuticals is seeking permission to sell Thelin for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which causes severe shortness of breath and often kills.

The failure to win full approval for Thelin will likely be viewed as positive for Swiss biotechnology company Actelion, which relies heavily on its PAH treatment Tracleer to sustain growth. The delay with Thelin will provide a boost to forecast sales for Actelion's product Tracleer.

Tracleer once had the PAH market pretty much to itself, it is now facing increased competition from Pfizer Inc.'s Revatio, containing the same active ingredient as Viagra. Thelin would be another direct competitor for treating the rare condition that often leads to the need for a heart and lung transplant.

A fourth drug for PAH called ambrisentan is being developed by Myogen Inc..

Follow the daily health and medical news updates, including the debate over allowing cheaper generic forms of medicines to compete on a free market.

Clamp Down on Cheap Medications

With the demand rising for cheaper pharmacy medications, manufacturers are pushing hard to stop the flow of generic medicines from entering USA.

Roche announced Friday that, working with 15 partners, it would increase production of Tamiflu by 33 percent by year's end. The company is aware that competition from manufacturers of generic medicines are targeting the product because of the increased demand for bird-flu treatments.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said that they have seen an increase in bogus treatments for high cholesterol, hypertension and obesity. Some generic drugs include products made with incorrect or no active ingredients, the wrong amount of medicine or by unlicensed manufacturers.

In 2004, Britain reported finding counterfeit versions of Reductil, an obesity treatment made by Abbott Laboratories, and copies of Cialis, an impotence drug manufactured by Eli Lilly. A year earlier, shipments of generic Lipitor, the cholesterol drug from Pfizer, made their way into drugstores in the United States.

The growth of Internet pharmacies has increased with the high demand for cheaper medications. Unfortunately, it has also created an opportunity for counterfeiters because consumers often do not know whom they are buying from. The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations in Geneva believe saales of prescription drugs over the Web may grow to $13.8 billion next year from $3.2 billion in 2003, according to Jupitermedia, a research firm based in Connecticut.

Seizures of generic drugs rose 40 percent last year, with Russia overtaking China for the first time as the country with the highest number of confiscations, according to a study by the Pharmaceutical Security Institute, based in Vienna, Virginia, which was founded in 2002 by the security directors of 14 drug makers.

The European Union has become more open to the importing of generic medicines since it expanded to include countries bordering Russia.

The arguements for and against the development of generic medications are many and complex. The big pharmaceutical companies claim that generic drugs undermine the research work for new drugs. In contrast to the generic manufacturers state that "big pharma" make excessive profits from patented medicines. Adding that much of the research is focussed on finding ways to modify an existing medication so that a new patent or extended patent can be applied.

The pharmacy ratings listing for reliable brand name and generic online pharmacies is an extensive guide, researched and built over a 5 year period. The independently compiled pharmacy comparison guide shows many trusted pharmacies, rated by performance.

An additional list of pharmacies to avoid and pharmacies that have closed is also maintained and updated. This list has a better alternative pharmacy option to consider listed against every avoid or closed pharmacy.

Sleep Aids - Where are the best buys?

The sleeplessness of hot nights and pressure packed days is creating a boom in sleep aid sales.

France's Sanofi-Aventis introduced its Ambien sleeping pill to the United States in 1993 and now dominates the more than $2 billion market for prescription insomnia remedies. The generic name for Ambien is zolpidem tartrate.

Sepracor, a Massachusetts drug company, then released Lunesta, a rival sleep aid, in April 2002, it knew that its greatest challenge was to gain market share. The generic name for Lunesta is Eszopiclone.

Another new sleeping pill brand called Sonata, generic name Zaleplon was more recently released.

Sepracor's solution was to spend as much as $200 million on an ad campaign designed to convince consumers of two things: That they have a right to a decent night's sleep, and that Lunesta is a safe and simple way to get it.

David Claman, director of the UCSF Sleep Disorders Center in San Francisco, knew at the time that Lunesta was arriving but hadn't given the drug's premiere much thought. Then the commercials started, the ones with a glowing green butterfly that brings soothing slumber to a restless world.

Since that advertising the sales of sleep aids has boomed. As I reported by David Lazurus in the San Francisco Chronical last Wednesday, the first in a multipart look at the business of sleep, a record 43 million sleeping-pill prescriptions were written by U.S. doctors last year, according to market researcher IMS Health.

By 2010, according to estimates, the pharmaceutical industry will be reaping at least $5 billion from annual sales of so-called hypnotics. Americans are an increasingly sleepless people. The National Institutes of Health says more than 70 million people nationwide may be affected by sleep troubles -- and the total is expected to grow every year as Baby Boomers advance in age.
This represents an enormous opportunity for drug companies.

The commercials for Lunesta offer fast convenient relief from tossing and turning and a restless night. All consumers are invited to do is take a little pill. In response to this and ads for other insomnia remedies, more and more consumers are growing comfortable with the idea of medicating their way to sleep each night.

The market is growing so rapidly that according to Medco Health Solutions, a manager of prescription drug benefit programs, the number of adults ages 20 to 44 using sleeping pills doubled from 2000 to 2004.

Meanwhile, the number of kids ages 10 to 19 who take prescription sleep remedies jumped by 85 percent during the same period. Medco said its analysis of 2.4 million prescription drug claims found that the highest percentage of kids taking sleeping pills is in Western and mountain states -- Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Ann Smith, a Medco spokeswoman, said it's possible that kids in these states lead more active lifestyles and thus need more help winding down at night. "Maybe they're all overstimulated at bedtime," she said.

Among adults under 65, use of sleeping pills is heaviest in the South -- Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. "We're not quite sure about that," Smith said. "We're not sure why that part of the country uses more behavior-modification medications."

She does know this, though: It's obvious that consumers have been strongly influenced by the extensive marketing efforts orchestrated by drug companies. "It's a double-edged sword," Smith said. "Direct-to-consumer advertising can enlighten people, which is a good thing. It can also lead to overuse."

Ads for Viagra notwithstanding, drug marketing tends to resonate most with female consumers. As such, Medco found that women are far more likely than men to take sleeping pills. In 2004, 58 percent more women ages 20 to 64 took prescription sleep remedies than men. Thirty-seven percent more girls ages 19 and under took sleeping pills than boys their age.

Ambien has long dominated the market -- but that could soon change. Sanofi-Aventis' patent on the drug runs out later this year, opening the door to a flood of low-cost generic alternatives.
To keep its foot in the door, the company introduced longer-lasting Ambien CR in October.
Emmy Tsui, a Sanofi-Aventis spokeswoman, said U.S. sales of Ambien and Ambien CR totaled about $1.5 billion last year. "It's a safe and effective treatment," she said, "supported by 16 years of patient use."

For its part, Sepracor says sales of Lunesta reached $329.2 million in the eight months last year after the drug's introduction. It was the company's first profitable year. "To date, no other sleep medication, either prescription or over-the-counter, has shown consistent efficacy over a six-month treatment period," said David Southwell, Sepracor's chief financial officer.

But are the pills safe? Ambien's Web site acknowledges that "all sleep medicines carry some risk of dependency," while the Lunesta site notes only that "most sleep medicines carry some risk of dependency." The makers of both pills say side effects can include drowsiness and dizziness. They also say that memory problems are possible, but can be limited if the pills are taken as directed.

The reported side effects can be seen on forums across the web. In some cases, Ambien can cause diarrhea. Lunesta can leave users with headaches and an unpleasant taste in the mouth. (Some have described it as a metallic taste.)

These relatively new drugs are replacing older sedatives such as Halcion, known in the trade as benzodiazepines. Both types of drugs work through the same brain receptors, but researchers believe the newer ones are less likely to lead to abuse over extended periods.

Susan Carson, a senior research associate at Oregon Health and Science University's Evidence-Based Practice Center, led a recent study on the effectiveness of newer sleeping pills like Ambien and Lunesta.

She found that the drugs do tend to work as advertised but that no one pill stands out as working better than any of the others. She also found that while these medications appear to pose a lower risk of dependency than earlier sleeping pills, it's hard to say for sure.

"They're shown to be safe in short-term studies," Carson said. "There's little information about their long-term use."

The most convenient and inexpensive way to obtain sleeping aids is online. To avoid the pharmacy sharks and to find reliable suppliers, consumers are well advised to use a good comparison website with detailed evaluation of top online pharmacies.

The links provided here are directed to the best of the many good websites that offer tips on beating sleep disorders and insomnia and help with selecting the most reliable best price saving pharmacies for convenient online orders.


Used for reference in this article:

David Lazarus' writing for San Francisco Chronicle.

Pharmacy Shark Patrol - Sites to Avoid

Pharmacy Shark Patrol receives a regular flow of enquiries from subscribers asking for assistance on many subjects to do with online pharmacy purchasing.

The PSP aims to assist you to obtain all the many cost savings and benefits to avoid the many scams and bad practices online.

One of the most common requests is for a review on pharmacies rating.

This question received today from William is a typical request :

...."How does this company rate - canadianpharm.info" .....
Wiilliam

This is our typical answer:

Hi William,

I would avoid this site :

Hosted in UK
no valid SSL
No Google page rank and low alexa rank
Created On:19-Jan-2006 23:39:58 UTC - Be very wary
Admin for this site is in Indonesia
Registrant Organization:BigCompany (also a worry)

Without a good affiliate program, PSP can not properly monitor the pharmacies performance through our network of customers and affiliates. Affiliate programs are the best form of testing and monitoring a sites integrity.

I hope this will help you choose a reliable program in the future. Please consider visiting : DrugStoreBestBuys.com for the latestest info which pharmacy to trust and which OP to avoid.