With reimportation near the top of the screen, in many of the recent health-care reform discussions -- I thought the readership might find this purely-rumored squib, purporting to be from a Schering-Plough Womens Health Care sales representative -- rather interesting. [I am, candidly, uncertain whether the Implanton birth control system is considered a "device" by FDA, or a "drug" -- but it is a distinction of scant difference, as in either case, re-importation is presently proscribed by applicable U.S. Customs regulations.]
In any event, while Canada may not technically be "overseas" -- this appeared on CafePharma, overnight:
. . . .Yesterday, 5:50 PM | Anonymous
W[omens] H[ealth] C[are] here -- have mercy on me......learned today that one of my top offices has been ordering Implanon FROM CANADA!! Also have some ordering from South America...what a nightmare ....Office Mgr. told me "if your company wouldn't charge $600-700 for one rod, I wouldn't have to do this".....OB said he didn't know -- he just puts them in.......anyone else have this issue? They should DUMP this crappy product and just let offices order on their own OR somehow give the rep credit for ALL orders including out-of-country ones -- but that will NEVER happen. . . .
Click the image to enlarge it [I edited it slightly for typos, blue-language, etc., above -- but this is the original]:
It goes without saying, of course, that it would be unlawful to provide incentive compensation of any kind to Schering-Plough salespeople, for sales made in plain, and knowing, violation of the United States Customs provisions.
And so, I offer this more as an example of just how broken the health-care delivery system really is in the United States -- and less as a specific indictment of Schering-Plough salespeople. I am fairly certain that this sort of stuff occurs (in a presumably very-small fraction of all implanted birth-control procedures), industry-wide. A small percentage of doctors' offices occasionally source, buy, and reimport drugs and devices, from non-U.S. vendors -- both thus apparently willing to take the risks of prosecution and/or injury, to a patient, should an adulterated good be implanted.
Truly unfortunate, even if it only hapens "once in a Blue Moon. . . ."
Fair pricing -- worldwide -- might be a better solution, no? It would remove the powerful financial incentive to reimport, right? I think so.
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