Posted by allisonm on June 10, 2003, at 17:05:21
My health insurance prescription benefits recently ran out, leaving me to pay the full price of my antidepressants. I found several phamacy web sites from Canada that offer the drugs I take for less than what I can get them for here in the US. So, I talked with my pdoc about it, he wrote me scripts, I sent them in, and got the drugs. It's all legal.
So, when I got these in the mail, there was a note from the pharmacy saying that they'd saved me additional money because one of the drugs is available in generic form, so they sent me that instead. My pdoc was unaware that a generic was available, but when I showed him the bottle, was OK with me taking it.
He has a friend who is a rep for the drug company that makes the brand name, and was curious enough about this that he asked him about this generic version available in Canada. Turns out that the patent ran out in Canada first, and yes indeed, it is available in generic. When my pdoc told his friend that one of his patients was getting the generic from Canada, he said "Oh no! Don't let her do that. Let me know when she needs more and I'll give you extra samples." So in effect, I now can get this expensive brand-name drug FREE because the drug rep doesn't want me buying the generic in another country.
But why? I can't figure it out. He surely has to know that if I have to buy it, I will find the source with the lowest cost, which probably means generic. What does he or his company benefit by giving their brand to me for FREE?? Any ideas?
Thanks.
poster:allisonm
thread:232960
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030609/msgs/232960.html