Anyone use a Canadian pharmacy to save money on their prescription drugs? My doc wants to prescribe Jardiance but it must be made of pixie dust and unicorn farts. I can get it from the Canucks for less than half the US price.

It's only available non generic here, so GoodRx are no use. Nor are the company's own coupons as I'm on Medicare.

Canada has access to generic versions which we don't because of patents or something. Anyway, anyone use the Canucks?

Yes. Just make sure the prescription is sent and pay by credit card.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Yes. Just make sure the prescription is sent and pay by credit card.

I'm really looking for recommendations from people who've had good experiences with particular pharmacies

I’ve had several good experiences with Northwest Pharmacy In Canada. Fast shipping, cheap prices, and all I had to do was send a photocopy of the prescription from my doctor. Buy with confidence.

I have been using a Canadian pharmacy for several years now. The name of the one I use is Maple Leaf Meds. I chose them because they offer pet meds in addition to people meds and they had a great price on what I need. We have a cat with feline asthma and he needs a Flovent (Fluticasone Propionate) inhaler. The vet suggested going through a Canadian pharmacy due to cost and he wasn't kidding. If I tried to get the inhaler locally, it would have been $250-$300. Going through Maple Leaf Meds, I get the same thing for $29 + $9.95 shipping. It is made by GlaxoSmithKline.

I will say that the pharmacy people have been very easy to work with and we only had one issue with a shipment getting lost which was during the crazy, Covid lockdown time. I had to wait until six weeks had passed (after ordering) before they officially declared it missing. They did replace it which meant waiting another two weeks to get it but there was no extra money out of my pocket. For this particular med, I have to order a bit in advance as it is shipped from halfway around the world. It doesn't actually come from Canada. I have no idea if it's the same with all meds or just certain ones. Shipping time has usually been 10-14 days after the order has gone through.

Another thing to consider is that, by law, you cannot import more than a 90-day supply of any drug in a single order through a Canadian pharmacy. The inhaler we use is packaged with 120 doses so the vet wrote the prescription as 2 doses per day which equals 60 days. The cat doesn't actually need that much and it takes much longer to go through it but it's what we have to do to get around the law. Since Jardiance comes in pills, you would get 90 at a time with as many refills necessary to get through the year.

In your situation, I would certainly look into the Canadian pharmacies. With Maple Leaf Meds, my first order was the most difficult part as I needed to set up my account through their website. Once that was done, everything went smoothly. To refill, I simply call them and let them know it is time. They put in the order, process an electronic check on my account, and I wait for the shipment. When the prescription expires after a year, I get a new one from the vet and place a new order through the website and email them a clear photo of the new prescription to get the order going. I then place the actual prescription into the mail and send it to them for their files. Not too much work to save a ton of money!

https://www.pricepropharmacy.com/create-account/

I used Pricepro pharmacy to buy Jardiance. I think mine came from Turkey but it was identical packaging as what I got from US pharmacy. Could also buy from Canada but was more expensive. Delivery was approx 3 weeks.

Cost was about $150 per month vs $500 here.

Marginal results, my blood glucose is 150-160 on metformin and was 140-150 on Jardiance and metformin but the diarrhea was explosive and a deal breaker so I stopped after a year or so.

I used to get a prescription from Canada that was not approved for USA pharmacies. My doctor wrote the prescription and gave me the contact information for the Canadian pharmacy. Couldn't have been easier. My guess is US law has relaxed on Canadian pharmacy purchases, because at that time way back, I got the impression it was not as OK as it may be now. Back then a Canadian doctor had to approve it somehow, but it worked.

Thanks guys. Good info as always.

I use Northwest Pharmacy, they save me $1,900.00 a year. Same drugs that Kroger Pharmacy sells me here.

I'm not sure where to begin, except to say that I would never purchase prescription drugs over the internet from an online "Canadian" or other non-USA pharmacy unless I visited their brick and mortar store in Canada first.

The Canadian government (Health Canada) itself states that 74% of purported Canadian pharmacies selling prescription drugs online are located outside Canada and have zero regulatory oversight. The legitimate pharmacies should display an NAPRA certificate that you can verify.

A 4 week customs study from about 10 years ago showed that 81% of the drugs intercepted coming into the US from "Canadian" and other pharmacies were counterfeit, adulterated, or sub/super therapeutic. One example was "viagra" from India that consisted of compressed sawdust that was then painted with blue house paint.

Even if the drug is authentic many of them are not stored or shipped appropriately, particularly those drugs that require refrigeration of special handling.

Prior to my retirement I was involved in the regulation of pharmaceuticals and am aware of 5 deaths that were attributed to medications obtained from "pharmacies" outside the US.

Is it really worth saving a few bucks? Not to me.

A casual google search for counterfeit canadian pharmacies, counterfeit prescription drugs or similar will give you lots to think about.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thank you for posting.

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A casual google search for counterfeit canadian pharmacies, counterfeit prescription drugs or similar will give you lots to think about.

Indeed, which is why I asked for personal recommendations, not internet speculation.

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Originally posted by Pyker:

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A casual google search for counterfeit canadian pharmacies, counterfeit prescription drugs or similar will give you lots to think about.

Indeed, which is why I asked for personal recommendations, not internet speculation.

Um,… Super Captain Obvious here… But aren’t you’re still on the Internet?

quote:

But aren’t you’re still on the Internet?

Yep, but I'm not speculating!

Israel is a more trusting source
Be prepared to check for scams on all internet pharmacies.

I have used both Northwest Pharmacy and Canada Cloud Pharmacy. Had a problematic order and Canada Cloud's customer service was excellent.

I used to get Inhalers (Ventolin, albuteral) from a Pharmacy in Toronto. Had North in its name. The inhalers looked exactly the same as US brand, but didn’t seem to work as well. Tried them a few times. Finally dropped them when my reorder phone calls came from mainland China. Then it made sense why they didn’t work as good as they should have.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:

quote:

But aren’t you’re still on the Internet?

Yep, but I'm not speculating!

You are close enough; maybe, on some nice weekend, bebop up to Int'l Falls and go over to Ft. Frances and see what they have for pharmacies that would handle mail order.

One example was "viagra" from India that consisted of compressed sawdust that was then painted with blue house paint.

Isn't the result to get some wood? Sorry couldn't resist.

Seriously though, I don't trust OEM internet car parts being genuine and no way would I buy out of country prescription drugs.

they may count the pills in the USA but they make most of the pills overseas. Not saying there isn't fraud but Pricepro pharmacy was as professional as Walgreens/CVS and the Jardiance was in the identical packaging as what my local pharmacy sold.
______________________________
Most brand-name prescription drugs made abroad
The vast majority of brand-name prescription drugs sold in US pharmacies are made overseas and imported by their marketers. Starting about 20 years ago, to bypass the high markups on these drugs, many Americans—particularly those older than 65 years—began importing their prescription drugs at much lower cost over the internet and from Canada and other countries.

PharmacyChecker found that most of the brand-name drugs and APIs in this report are made in other high-income countries with similarly strict standards as those in the United States. Of the 100 brand-name drugs, 32 were finished in the United States, while 67 were finished in countries in the European Union, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Only one brand-name drug, the anticonvulsant Neurontin (gabapentin), was made in India.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/rep...me-rx-drugs-are-made