Consumer Groups Slam Glaxo

Drug Maker Blocks Americans' Access to Affordable Drugs

February 12, 2003
Escalating the battle against drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, a coalition of 10 leading American and Canadian healthcare and business organizations has begun a national advertising campaign lambasting the drugmaker for its ban keeping American seniors from accessing its affordable prescription drugs from Canada.

To launch the campaign, the group has taken a full-page ad in The New York Times encouraging consumers and healthcare professionals to work to reverse the ban. The ad asks readers to contact their legislators to seek their support, to complain to Glaxo's consumer hotline and CEO, and to consult with their doctor and see if there are alternative drugs to Glaxo's if they are now sourcing Glaxo drugs from a Canadian pharmacy.

In addition, the ad invites them to sell any Glaxo stock they own or control in pension funds, and to switch from Glaxo\'s over-the-counter treatments to comparable products made by other pharmaceutical companies.

If the ban remains, the coalition says that other major drugmakers are likely to follow the company's lead and, ultimately, strip Americans' long-established access to Canadian drugs in order to build the industry's sales and profit margins.

"With this campaign, we're delivering our message loud and clear to Glaxo, that you cannot steal access to affordable drugs from those who are dying and expect to get away with it," said Jimm Axline, president, National Association of the Terminally Ill, a nonprofit organization serving families facing terminal illnesses.

"We're urging consumers and health professionals to call their Senators and Congressman and Glaxo's U.S. CEO, and tell them to give our patients back their affordable drugs."

The coalition charged that Glaxo has enacted the ban solely to boost their revenues and profits.

"Strong profit growth is Glaxo's chief concern, not the quality of care and well-being of seniors who cannot pay the exorbitant American prices for their life-saving drugs," said Dr. Elizabeth Wennar, spokesperson for the Coalition for Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs, a Vermont-based advocacy group.

"If patient care was a genuine worry, Glaxo would have come forward much earlier. They wouldn't have waited nearly three years while Canadian pharmacies have grown to serve millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans. Simply put, Glaxo wants a much bigger piece of the sales action."

Coalition members are:

• Action Alliance of Senior Citizens, senior advocacy organization, Philadelphia, PA (www.actionseniors.org)
• Senior Action Network, senior advocacy organization, San Francisco (www.senioractionnetwork.org)
• New York Statewide Senior Action Council, senior advocacy group, Albany, NY (www.nysenior.org)
• AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the nation's largest AIDS organization, Los Angeles, CA (www.aidshealth.org)
• Canadameds.com, mail order pharmacy (www.narvre.com)
• CrossBorderPharmacy.com, mail order pharmacy (www.crossborderpharmacy.com)
• Canadian International Pharmacy Association, a national organization of mail order pharmacies serving Canadian and American consumers in need (www.ciparx.com)
• National Association of the Terminally Ill, nonprofit group helping families that face terminal illnesses (www.terminallyill.org)
• Coalition for Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs, advocacy group based in Manchester, VT (www.caarx.com)

Thousands of our patients are suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and other very serious life-threatening illnesses," said Axline. "In effect, Glaxo is saying to our patients, 'We don't care that you're going to have to pay double or triple what you've been paying in Canada for your meds. We want our money and, we're gonna get it.'"

Discount Programs Too Little for Too Many

GlaxoSmithKline participates in two prescription discount card programs which, according to the drug company, provide a 30% or less savings off retail prices to consumers. Yet, while the drug company says its discounts are "equivalent" to those in Canada, that's inaccurate, according to the coalition.

For example, Glaxo's asthma drug Flovent is 50% off U.S. retail prices at Canadian pharmacies. The coalition says that a savings of even $5 or $10 more each month off their drugs can make the drastic difference between whether consumers can afford their drugs or not buy them at all.

More than 1 in 5 adults (22%) didn't take their drugs as prescribed in the past year because of the cost, according to a Harris Interactive survey (Nov. 2001).

Plus, coalition members complain that hundreds of thousands of working families, the poor and disabled cannot get any prescriptjon discounts whatsoever under the current programs available due to their restrictive nature. Dave Robertson, Pharmacist and CEO of CrossBorderPharmacy.com, has some real concerns that many of the patients without appropriate drug plans, that have come to rely on his organization for their medications, will not quality for any of the alterative programs, and will be left in the position of being unable to afford their prescription drugs.

Drug Companies Scared Of Price Controls, Medicare Prescription Benefit

Drug expenses have been one of the fastest growing healthcare expenses, having climbed more than 17 percent annually from 1998 to 2001, according to the nonprofit National Institute for Healthcare Management Foundation.

Industry experts and The New York Times (Nov. 21, 2002) believe that the drug industry feels strengthened now that Republicans control Congress and are hardened against any efforts to lower drug costs. While publicly the drug industry says that it is working with the Bush Administration toward providing a Medicare prescription drug benefit, many believe privately, the industry hopes that such a move will never occur.

"Probably nothing scares the drug industry more than there being a Medicare prescription drug benefit," said Daren Jorgenson, pharmacist at coalition member Canadameds.com, a Canadian pharmacy serving 200,000 Americans in need. "If that happens, they know it will open up the floodgates for possible future drug price controls."

Other Groups Ask Consumers to Avoid Glaxo OTC Products

The ad campaign follows news stories reported last week that several U.S. seniors groups and Canadian pharmacies, including the New York Statewide Senior Action Council and Seniors Action Alliance in Philadelphia, near Glaxo's U.S. headquarters location, have encouraged patients to consider purchasing alternative products to Glaxo's over-the-counter products, such as Contac cold medicine, Geritol iron supplement, Sominex sleep treatment and Tums antacid.

Glaxo's Profits Expected to Climb

Coincidentally, also on Wednesday, Glaxo is expected to announce its annual 2002 worldwide sales and profit figures. The British drug giant will likely report more than $30 billion in sales, and in excess of $9 billion in pre-tax profits.

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