The quest for cheap health care products has led many customers to the doors of pharmacy shops based in Canada. While there has been some hue and cry in the United States over the safety issues pertaining to the drugs imported from Canada, many states of the US have already gone ahead and tied up with Canadian pharmacies licensed by Canadian provinces and governed by the laws and regulations of that country.
The
justification given for such a move is to make health more affordable
and to ensure that much needed drugs are made available to the
customers. States like Wisconsin have already short listed pharmacies
based in Canada to provide mail order drugs to people back home. The
short listing process included a visit to study the pharmacy's
facilities as well as the protocols used for filling prescriptions. The
applicable Canadian laws were also studied to gain better insight into
the measures adopted to ensure regulation of the industry and to
discourage compromise on quality for commercial gains.
Tying up with licensed pharmacies in Canada will definitely help in
curbing the import of drugs from unlicensed firms there. It will also
discourage sales of spurious counterfeit drugs. It will also mean that
licensed Canadian firms can concentrate on doing business with assured
business margins, without worrying about competition from unlicensed
pharmacies. These unlicensed vendors will then be forced to obtain
license if they are to stay in business.
Some US firms have now launched a service which allows customers to
verify the credentials of Canadian pharmacies before purchasing drugs
from them. These firms provide information about the legal status of a
pharmacy online. Pharmacies interested in going through this
verification process are to first approach these sites and fill in a
form that certifies that they are operating within the framework of
laws of applicable jurisdictional laws. These pharmacies should comply
with laws in both the city from where they are operating and the area
where they are selling their products. The verification agency will
then independently investigate the pharmacy and find out if the details
furnished in the form submitted are true or not. One being cleared, the
pharmacy website will be allowed to display a seal which indicates
certification by the verifying agency.
Many licensed pharmacies in Canada believe this is another step in
increasing the customer base in US. These pharmacies can look forward
to a entering into a long partnership with many customers and enhancing
the trust factor in their relationship. Once a customer is assured of
the quality of the product he is ordering, he can go ahead in
confidence by being assured about the business credentials of the
company he is dealing with.
The licensed Canadian firms now want to increase the volume of business
and transactions carried across the border. At the same time they don't
want the reputation of licensed Canadian pharmacies being soiled by the
unlicensed ones selling drugs of inferior quality. These initiatives
may just be the medicine that the licensed pharmacies were waiting for.