Libby Baney Comments on Filling Prescriptions Abroad With Business Insider

In “Americans Desperate for the Hot Weight-Loss Drug Ozempic Are Turning to Canada and Mexico Because They Can’t Afford It at Home,” Business Insider spoke with government and regulatory partner and senior advisor to the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies Libby Baney about telehealth companies helping patients fill prescriptions outside of the United States.

Baney explained that it’s illegal for U.S. companies to facilitate drug transactions outside of the U.S. supply chain. Canadian pharmacists also aren’t supposed to fill U.S. prescriptions, she added, but there are ways around the law.

Baney commented that purchasing prescription drugs from unlicensed online pharmacies can also be dangerous, with websites that say they ship medicines from Canada may actually ship them from somewhere else. There’s a chance a person could end up with a fake product, with no recourse if they’re harmed, she said.

“You have no way of actually knowing as an American patient if you’re getting the real deal or if you’re getting a counterfeit because it’s really easy to lie on the internet, and it’s super easy to counterfeit a drug,” Baney noted.