Maine consumers have a new option for buying prescription drugs online, at much cheaper prices. On Oct. 1, the so-called Great British Drug Store launched a website specifically for Maine residents that offers prescription medications at savings of up to 70 percent. But critics say Great British Drug Store's virtual move into Maine violates both U.S. and U.K. law.
Maine has 222 pharmacies, says Great British Drug Store Director Mary O'Brien. Her company wants to be number 223. "We're here to tell the people of Maine that buying from greatbritishdrugstore.com is essentially no different than buying from their local pharmacy, because we're supplying British drugs at British prices," O'Brien said.
Great British Drug Store is owned by Weldricks, a pharmacy chain with 61 locations in the U.K. Their entry into Maine is the result of a Maine law passed last year that allows consumers here to import prescription drugs from registered pharmacies in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Any Mainer can simply go onto Great British Drug Store's website to order medication - so long as they provide a doctor's prescription and fill out a confidential health questionnaire. If the order is approved, the medication is shipped within 24 to 48 hours for $15.
"They're guaranteed that the medicine they're buying is coming from our U.K. dispensary, dispensed by a U.K. pharmacist," O'Brien said.
That state law that opened the door to these transactions is under legal challenge, and one of the plaintiffs in the suit is the Maine Pharmacy Association. Past president Kenneth McCall questions the safety of online pharmacies. He cites the case of another operation - Canadadrugcenter.com - that has also advertised cheap prescription drugs in Maine newspapers.
"And we found out, in fact, that the medicines they were shipping were not approved by Canada Health, and had nothing to do with Canadian pharmacists or pharmacies," McCall says. "In fact, they were from Mauritius, India, Turkey. So I caution people here in Maine to be alert, be skeptical. And to not just take what you read on an Internet website at face value."
McCall says Great British Drug Store itself violates U.K. law, which prohibits pharmacists there from filling prescriptions from doctors in the the U.S. But Great British Drug Store's Mary O'Brien says there's actually a legal work-around to that problem. "It's called shadow prescribing," she says.
Shadow prescribing works like this: A U.K. physician will review every order from Maine, and, if approved, will recreate the prescription and send it to be filled.
The sponsor of Maine's drug importation law, Democratic Sen. Troy Jackson points out that, for nearly a decade, hundreds of employees of the state of Maine and city of Portland ordered online medications before the program ended due to legal issues, which have been resolved in the new law.
"Not one problem ever arose in that time, because, again, they're 'Tier I' countries, same as this company is, and they have as good, if not better, safety standards than the U.S."
Too many Mainers, Jackson says, can't afford their medications - and now they have options.
