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PhRMA Expands Campaign to Educate Consumers on Risks of Importing Prescription Drugs

Posted on: Thursday, 7 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

WASHINGTON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) today launched an advertising campaign to broaden the reach of the industry's efforts to educate consumers, especially America's seniors, about the safety risks of importing prescription drugs from foreign countries and to inform them of safe, legal ways people in need can get medicines for free or nearly free.

The campaign, kicked off with a full-page advertisement in the Washington Examiner, will support PhRMA's online efforts, including the recent launch of http://www.buysafedrugs.info/, an online clearinghouse of information about the dangers of opening America's borders to foreign drugs.

To alert consumers about the risks of importation and draw visitors to the site, PhRMA is actively advertising through search engine and blog advertisements designed to highlight the risks of foreign drugs. The site has drawn more than 300,000 hits since its launch on June 21.

"When politicians talk about importing drugs from Canada, they never tell you that the drugs, in reality, could be coming from countries like Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Latvia and Estonia," said Ken Johnson, senior vice president of PhRMA. "There is a growing body of evidence that importation schemes threaten public health, and Americans need to understand the dangers associated with importation and learn about alternatives to taking these unnecessary risks."

Visitors to http://www.buysafedrugs.info/ can find the latest news on the importation debate, consumer tools to help them understand their rights when buying prescription drugs and guidelines for identifying potential counterfeit medicines.

The Web site also details safe, legal alternatives to importation, pointing visitors to various assistance programs and the pharmaceutical industry's recently formed Partnership for Prescription Assistance (http://www.pparx.org/ or 1-888-4PPA-NOW), which matches those in need to programs that provide medicines for free or at reduced costs.

Please call (202) 835-3460 for a copy of The Washington Examiner ad.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA members alone invested an estimated $38.8 billion in 2004 in discovering and developing new medicines. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures.

PhRMA Internet Address: http://www.phrma.org/ For information on how innovative medicines save lives, visit: http://www.innovation.org/ For information on the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, visit: http://www.pparx.org/ For information on the danger of imported drugs, visit: http://www.buysafedrugs.info/

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

CONTACT: Wanda Moebius of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturersof America, +1-202-835-3462

Web site: http://www.phrma.org/http://www.buysafedrugs.info/http://www.pparx.org/http://www.innovation.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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