Limiting Deals Between Name Brand and Generic Manufacturers is Obvious
If you ask me, “pay for delay” is a little too cutesy a term for a practice that places medicine more and more out of patients’ financial reach. More than a quarter of Americans stated they or a family member have been unable to afford a prescribed medication over the past year. And yet “pay for delay” -- one of many patent games afforded pharmaceutical companies -- makes it legal for brand drugmakers to compensate - or “pay off” - generic drugmakers to hold off on entering the market with less expensive versions. A seemingly political slam dunk, we’re seeing legislation introduced to curtail the practice. PhRMA is, perhaps unsurprisingly, all for pay for delay, saying it enables drug companies “to develop new medicines that save lives” and “alleviate the burden of disease.” But whose lives are we saving when so few can afford these “new medicines”? What free market are we touting when the highest bidder can influence regulation on something as precious as access to healthcare?
The aim of PharmacyChecker is simple: while we hold our breath for action here at home on lowering drug prices, we hope to provide information to those seeking affordable medication now. Brand drugs -- such as Eliquis, Januvia, Janumet, etc. -- are caught in the Patent Olympics and leave regular people, who are just trying to live their lives, to do their own set of backflips to pay for them. These people, already dealing with anxiety-inducing health issues, shouldn’t have to worry about budgeting as well. PharmacyChecker verifies international online pharmacies for safety, which helps patients find legitimate lower-priced medication online. Too often, with brand names especially, the exact same medication sold at a local U.S. pharmacy can be purchased online from a foreign country for obscenely less. Below, you’ll see a sample list of cost comparisons, with the savings hovering around 90%. Savings like this usually make me wary about the quality of anything I’m buying, but these savings only indicate one thing: How horribly we’re taken advantage of in the United States.
| Brand Name (Quantity & Strength) | USA | Canada | International | Highest Percentage Savings |
| Premarin (30 tablets, 0.625 mg) | $189.69 | $27.12 | $11.42 | 93% |
| Januvia (30 tablets, 100 mg) | $497.04 | $124.32 | $24.57 | 95% |
| Eliquis (60 tablets, 5 mg) | $499.28 | $126.32 | $52.48 | 89% |
| Advair Diskus (1 inhaler, 250/50 mcg) | $639.58 | $139.95 | $40.69 | 93% |
| Janumet (30 tablets, 50/1000 mg) | $251.42 | $63.66 | $15.82 | 93% |
| Flovent HFA (1 inhaler, 110 mcg) | $652.42 | $81.95 | $27.90 | 95% |
| Symbicort Inhaler (1 inhaler, 160/4.5 (200/6) mcg) | $255.53 | $128.95 | $63.95 | 74% |
| Vesicare (30 tablets, 10 mg) | $386.99 | $68.32 | $32.98 | 91% |
| Viagra (30 tablets, 100 mg) | $2,313.24 | $373.82 | $186.80 | 91% |
| Xarelto (30 tablets, 20 mg) | $492.78 | $106.32 | $43.03 | 91% |
