American-made prescription drugs 76% cheaper when purchased abroad

American patients can make significant savings by buying drugs abroad, according to an analysis carried out by online pharmacy information specialist PharmacyChecker.com.

Americans can find average savings of 76% on brand-name drugs manufactured in the US but purchased from verified international online pharmacies rather than local US pharmacies, according to the analysis. The savings, found from a basket of 15 popular brand-name drugs for which data was collected over a 15-week period, ranged from 86% for depression medication Cymbalta (duloxetine) to 61% for kidney stone treatment Urocit-K (potassium citrate).

The analysis also found that although three of the drugs – Singulair (montelukast), Pulmicort (budesonide) and Urocit-K – are available as generics in the US their brand-name prices abroad are still lower than the generics prices in the US.

‘It is a ridiculous situation, but the only way many Americans can get affordable prices on brand-name American drugs is to buy them outside the country’, according to Dr Tod Cooperman, President of PharmacyChecker.com. Fifty million Americans failed to fill their prescriptions due to cost in 2012, including 21% of insured Americans, according to the Commonwealth Fund.

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Source: www.gabionline.net