Online buyers of prescription medicine now have another option through the state of Minnesota.
MinnesotaRxConnect.com will now offer prescription drugs from two United Kingdom pharmacies as well as four pharmacies in Canada.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Human Services Commissioner Kevin Goodno announced the expansion Thursday.
Growth of the program was prompted by higher supply demands and the possibility that Canadian online pharmacies would be shut down.
Threats to shut down online sites selling to customers out of the country also came from the Canadian government and pharmaceutical companies, Goodno said Thursday afternoon at the Moorhead Municipal Airport.
ADVERTISEMENT
The United Kingdom option will be included for 124 of the online prescriptions.
Originally, there were more than 800 different medications offered through the Web site, but that has been reduced to 330 due to higher costs online and low demand for some of the drugs.
"The only medications that are listed are maintenance medications that are for ongoing chronic types of diseases," Goodno said.
First-time or one-time prescriptions cannot be filled through RxConnect, Goodno said, due to time constraints in getting the medication to the consumer.
The names of the UK pharmacies are not being released to deter pharmaceutical companies and the government from shutting them down, as they are threatening in Canada.
Instead of using a bid process like that used to pick the Canadian pharmacies, the UK pharmacies that already had partnerships with two of the existing RxConnect pharmacies - Total Care Pharmacy and Granville Pharmacy - were chosen. Goodno said it was easier than starting over with the process in the UK.
Since it's inception in January 2004, more than 200,000 people have accessed the Web site and about 13,000 prescriptions have been filled through the program.
Goodno said the number may seem small, but the purpose of the Web site was not to draw consumers away from local pharmacies, but rather to attract people already buying from Canadian pharmacies.
ADVERTISEMENT
When a prescription is requested using the RxConnect program, it is reviewed by a Canadian or UK pharmacist and then a prescription is written by a licensed physician in the country it is ordered from.
Dr. Cody Wiberg, the pharmacy program manager for the department of human services, led the research of the UK pharmacies. Background research was done and the medication was tested.
"They use standards that are at least as good as ours - sometimes better," Wiberg said.
Wiberg also researched the Canadian pharmacies when the program was started.
In addition to adding the UK option, there were several changes made to the structure of the Web site.
Now, consumers can compare the price of medicine per unit, see if there is a generic equivalent available in the United States and be alerted to a possible lower price in the U.S.
Goodno said the generic availability is important because some of the medicines with a generic equivalent are cheaper at a local drug store.
In addition, the Web site offers general information about each of the drugs for sale.
ADVERTISEMENT
Readers can reach Forum reporter Barbara Raus at (701) 235-7311
