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Upcoming Meetings Meetings of the SWIPA Board: The SWIPA Board of Directors will meet on the second Tuesday of each month at 7am at JoJo’s Restaurant on US 41 North. Meetings scheduled for 2005 will be held on January 11th, February 8th, March 8th, April 12th, May 10th, and June 14th. Board members should contact Jim Braun at Oak Hill Pharmacy at 425-4422 if they cannot attend. Continuing Education: GlaxoSmithKline and Cerenex Pharmaceuticals will sponsor a free CE meeting titled “An Interactive Case-Based Evaluation of Asthma, Herpes, and Migraine: Advances in Diagnosis, Management, and Treatment” on Saturday, January 22, 2005. The meeting will be held at the Evansville Airport Marriott on US 41 North. The meeting will begin with registration/breakfast at 8:00 AM and will conclude by 12:30 PM. Four hours of CE will be offered. Cerenex representative Kevin Cantner is also sending invitation to members’ home addresses. For more information, contact Kevin by voice mail at 1-800-496-3772 mailbox number 85695.
Membership Dues SWIPA membership renewals are due in January of each year. As in the past, the dues are $25.00 at initial application and for each full year thereafter. To renew, please detach the membership renewal form found on Page 3 of the newsletter and mail it to the address on the form. Your paid dues help to support the activities of SWIPA, including $1000 scholarships to pharmacy students from Purdue and Butler from our area, food and drink costs for some of our “non-sponsored” meetings, newsletter mailing costs, and costs for maintaining the SWIPA website. The Board of Directors thanks you for your continued support of these activities and for your continued membership in SWIPA.
Fighting High Drug Prices In an article published December 20, 2004 in the Evansville Courier and Press, reporter Ella Johnson tells the story of Canadian Discount Prescriptions, a business that has opened recently in Evansville (in a small office in the strip attached to Arc Lanes Bowling on the East side of Evansville, just in case you are looking for the business.) Canadian Discount Prescriptions is a storefront that offers consumers a way to purchase U.S. manufactured pharmaceuticals through the Canada Discount Rx pharmacy at “a lower price.” The article makes some attempts to address the legality of prescription drug reimportation, but does not hit the mark. Ms. Johnson interviewed John Rector, general counsel for NCPA, who stated that the practice of reimportation for commercial or personal use is illegal, but not likely to be prosecuted if done for personal use. Ms. Johnson even quotes the owner of Canadian Discount Prescriptions as saying his business “Technically…is not legal.” Ms. Johnson contacted the Health Professions Bureau and apparently found a representative unfamiliar with Indiana statute. The representative failed to make it clear that displaying or advertising Rx, prescription, drugs, etc, is only legal when it is done by a licensed pharmacy. The biggest slap in the face to pharmacy, however, was when Ms. Johnson implied that local pharmacists were too chicken to speak with her about the problem of high drug prices and their opinions of the Canadian Discount Prescriptions business. On Wednesday, December 15th at 9:58 AM, Ms. Johnson e-mailed the SWIPA website, stating that she “would like to talk to local pharmacists about this new source for prescription drugs.” At 5:31 PM, I replied to Ms. Johnson:
Ella,
I have spoken with Chris, and he said that he spoke with Ms. Johnson for over an hour, pleading our case about Canada, discount cards, and mail order. Apparently she had some sort of agenda, and we can all see how things turned out. The Evansville Courier and Press chose to run what amounted to a full page advertisement for an illegal business, operated by someone who is posing as a health professional.
I have already responded directly to Ms. Johnson by asking that she correct or retract the inaccurate statements made in her article. I also asked her just how many pharmacists she attempted to contact. I gave her two names (Chris’ and my own) to save her time and she only chose to contact one person, then whined that Chris was one of the few local pharmacists willing to talk on the record. Ms. Johnson has responded, saying she talked to three pharmacists, two of which would not speak “on the record.” She ran out of time before her deadline and did not have the opportunity to contact others. Given that Chris Kissel took an hour with her on a busy Monday morning and she gave his comments an inch of copy, I’m not sure it would have mattered if she had spoken to every pharmacist in the Tri-State.
On Sunday, December 26th, a letter to the Editor written by pharmacist Terri Schultz was published. In her letter, Terri writes: “We are not gouging our customers with sky-high prices. We are asking only for a fair profit on outrageously priced drugs from the same U.S. pharmaceutical companies that sell those drugs so cheaply to Canada and other foreign countries. They are not selling them cheaply to your local pharmacies. How long do you think these local businesses can remain your neighbors with this unfair competition?” Thank you, Terri, for having the courage to speak out.
The Evansville Courier and Press has chosen to drop the issue of prescription drug reimportation and pricing right in our laps. It is time for more of us to respond! If you have not done so, take the time TODAY and contact Ella Johnson at ejohnson@evansville.net or by phone at 464-7420. You may also write the Editor at letters@evansville.net. We cannot let this attempt at “journalism” to be what the public believes and remembers!
Blood Donations as Viewed From the Other Side of the Fence December 27, 2004 I was just watching the news and listening to the Red Cross appeal for people to come out to the Donorama. I used to donate blood on a fairly regular basis, but now that I am fighting a battle with leukemia, I know what it is like on the other side of the fence. I know the waiting for the nurses to find platelets when your count is at 2 (normal is over 150) and you have bruises all over, blood blisters in your mouth, petechiae on your legs, and a nose that won’t stop bleeding. I know the overwhelming tiredness when the hemoglobin is below 8 and your body is begging for the red blood cells. And I know the blessings of all who help through their blood donations, cards, calls, visits, and prayers. I hope that all of you who are healthy are doing blood and platelet donations. If not, I urge to you to consider doing this. Most of the pharmacists I know are very generous people who are devoted to helping others in need. Current plans are also to do a stem cell transplant on me, so I will be waiting to see if they can find a donor with matching bone marrow. If you donate platelets at the Indiana Blood Center, you can also request a bone marrow matching test for free instead of the usual $60 fee. It will put you on a national registry so that you might even be able to help someone outside our local area. Go to www.marrow.org or www.cirbc.org for more information or call the Indiana Blood Center. Adel Bennett Schnucks 1st Ave
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