2 replies to this topic

[captainmuffin]

Hello. My primary reason for writing this is to obtain some feedback from people who have successfully ordered their Accutane, Claravis, or other brand isotretinoin from online Canadian pharmacies such as canadadrugsonline.com. If you'd like, you can stop reading now and share your experience, but I do have some other information to share:

In my experience, it seems an online pharmacy is the only plausible way for me to get Accutane at a reasonable cost. My family's current health insurance is worthless, which means the cost of one of the generic brand of Accutane is around $800/month. Switching insurance providers is out of the question since our insurance is from my dad's work. My brother was on Accutane a couple years ago, and my mom said on our old insurance policy she only had a copay of $13 for Claravis. Timing is everything...

I have called nearly every pharmacy in my area, and I've discovered that with my insurance I won't be able to get it for less than $800/month. While I would really like clear skin, the idea of paying that much is ridiculous, especially when you consider the added costs of blood work and doctor visits. After some research, I discovered canadadrugsonline.com has the dosage I would need for only $280, which is still ridiculous, but affordable. I called canadadrugsonline, and they explained to me that they could easily ship Claravis to the US, as long as I was a part of the same iPLEDGE program that exists in the US, and that I faxed my prescription to them.

I have only seen a single post where somebody mentioned that they successfully got their Accutane from an online pharmacy, but the experience the person had seemed easy enough. I was cleared for Claravis back in December, and only then did I discover that it is basically gold, in pill form. After numerous calls to my derm, she finally got back to me and said that she didn't trust getting it from an online pharmacy, let alone an international online pharmacy. After calling canadadrugsonline and hearing that it sounded pretty safe, I again tried calling my derm, but after many calls and voicemails, I discovered that she had swtiched practices to one not covered by my insurance. Go figure. At this point, It had been a month after I got my presecription, so the iPLEDGE program said I had to start over.

I am now seeing a new derm who has just started me on amoxicillin, because after reviewing my records she discovered my old derm had never prescribed it to me. She said if it does not show any major improvements, she will start me on Claravis at my next visit, which is in 6 weeks. Since nothing else has worked thus far, and the idea of taking yet another antibiotic long-term (which have been proven to have harmful effects on both your immune and digestive systems) seems daunting, I am leaning towards the possibility that I'll have another prescription for Claravis in 6 weeks. So basically, I have 6 weeks to find a reasonable source from which to purchase Claravis. It would be a shame to come this far, after waiting 3 years to finally get cleared for Accutane, to not get it because it isn't affordable.

Couple other questions, just out of curiosity:

1. Why is Canada able to offer Accutane for nearly 1/3 the cost of the same product in the US?

2. Why the hell does my insurance have to suck so bad?

I apologize for the length of this post, but I feel like I've exhausted any other options. Any help, feedback, or advice is greatly appreciated.

Edited by captainmuffin, 28 February 2012 - 08:01 PM.

[Purple Penguin]

Walgreens' website SAYS a quantity of 60 40mg capsules are $472.99 with their $20/year savings club card. Not as good as Canadian websites, but those are pretty iffy most of the time and yes, technically illegal. To answer your questions:

1. Because the Canadian government (who also happens to be slightly less up the collective a$$ of the pharmaceutical industry) helps to regulate prescription drug prices. The manufacturers that are still trying to recoup their R&D costs can get away with charging less there because they charge so much more here. Also, there are limits as to what can be advertised by pharmaceutical companies in Canada. If you saw how much people had to pay out of pocket for the most heavily-advertised medications here, you'd be amazed. Those prime time television commercial slots cost a ton of money, and that cost gets passed on to the consumer.

2. Because. My guess is that your parents' employer doesn't want to pay for a plan with decent prescription coverage. I'm in the same boat. It makes the $40/month I had to pay for my pills the first time around seem pretty painless.

Just out of curiousity, if you do end up going the Canadian route can you send me a pm letting me know how it went?

[captainmuffin]

UPDATE:

I ordered my isotretinoin from canadadrugsonline.com (40mg x 60) and they took 11 days (ordered on a Tuesday and arrived on a Saturday)
to arrive at my house near Cleveland, Ohio. The brand name was Clarus which I'm assuming is just another generic brand of the drug. The cost was actually lower than expected at $200 for 60 40mg pills. To order it, I had to fax my prescription and iPLEDGE number to canadadrugsonline. My derm said it was my choice where to get it but it she said she wouldn't be responsible if it wasn't the right drug. I'm not exactly sure how the timing of the drug is going to work if the shipping is always 11 days (hopefully it was only longer because I ordered it around a holiday) but I'm hoping my derm can just write my prescription 2 weeks in advance to allow time for shipping. I took my first doses today and I'll post in this forum about my experiences. If you have any questions feel free to comment.