Are online pharmacies affecting drug supply?
Brian Whitwham Ottawa Many experts are apprehensive but no one really knows if Web-based pharmacies are affecting Canada’s drug supply by shipping to customers in the US. As Internet pharmacies experience unprecedented growth by offering lower prices to American customers, some pharmacists here are complaining about delays and shortages in supply for Canadian patients. “It makes sense,” says Murray Elston, president of Rx&D. “I think logically that there would be some supply issues at hand.” But the BC Pharmacy Association thinks the assumption is “hypothetical,” says Susan Ogilvie, because “ebbs and flows” are a feature of the drug supply. “But to come out and flatly blame the Internet pharmacies? We don’t have hard facts to support that.” Dr. David Collins, dean of pharmacy at the University of Manitoba, says data are hard to gather because online cross-border drug dispensing runs counter to US law. He says only anecdotal evidence currently exists but “it’s not anecdotal in the field
