Thursday, July 10, 2008

22 - Meds Available in Canada? (July 2008)

Because we live so close to the Canadian border, I felt it would be worthwhile to investigate obtaining the fertility drugs from Canada. After studying the US Customs and Border Protection website, I've come to the conclusion (which may or may not be accurate) that purchasing/bringing in meds into the US if prescribed by a US doctor is illegal, however, bringing in meds prescribed by a Canadian doctor is not. I googled "pharmacies and Windsor, Ontario" and started making phone calls. The first three pharmacies I tried didn't carry fertility drugs. The forth pharmacy I called carried all the drugs that I would need, but they would only fill a prescription if that prescription was co-signed by a Canadian doctor (which makes sense considering the US customs policy I had read about). Conveniently, they had a phone number for a doctor that, for a small fee, would co-sign the prescription. I called the doctor, and, sure enough, this was the protocol. I could not make an appointment - it was a walk-in clinic.

So, at this point, I decided that the next step would be to price the meds to see if making a trip to Canada would be financially worth it. I was very surprised - based on the pharmacies that I called (and had the meds), the meds were about 15% more expensive in Canada (of course, factoring in the exchange rate). I then priced several places within the US and was very pleased to discover that the pharmacy the CCRM recommended (Freedom Fertility Drugs) was the cheapest I could find. The process of ordering the meds with this pharmacy is very smooth. CCRM called in my order yesterday and today I will call in my credit card number. We will arrange a time for them to arrive - I will have to be home when they arrive because these drugs are temperature sensitive.

1 comment:

Emily (Apron Strings) said...

Wow! I didn't even THINK about doing that ... researching if Canadian IF drugs would be cheaper, and what the process would be. It's good to know that the drugs cost less here!

So far I'm enjoying the posts. VERY informative!