{"id":3960,"date":"2019-04-11T16:22:19","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T20:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/?p=3960"},"modified":"2023-02-23T09:55:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T14:55:25","slug":"is-it-safe-to-buy-my-prescription-drugs-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/is-it-safe-to-buy-my-prescription-drugs-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it safe to buy my prescription drugs in Mexico?"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than <\/span>131 million Americans<\/span><\/a> take one or more prescription drugs. If you\u2019re one of them, you probably know that medications can be very expensive in the United States. And the costs just keep rising. This may have you looking to other countries for less expensive treatments, but is it safe and legal to buy your prescription medications in Mexico? The answer can depend on a lot of factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why buy medicine in Mexico<\/span><\/h2>\n

Prescription drugs are a huge business in the U.S. According to a 2019 <\/span>Centers for Disease Control<\/span><\/a> (CDC) report, nearly half of all Americans (48.6%) used at least one prescription drug in the previous 30 days. As a result, the cost of those drugs in the United States has skyrocketed. The <\/span>U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/span><\/a> (HHS) reports that the average price increase per drug in July of 2022 was $250 or around 8%, which was larger than the same month in previous years. In addition, several brand-name drugs saw their prices go up by $20,000 or more in 2022\u2014an increase of over 500%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rising costs are due, in large part, to the way prescription drugs are treated by the federal government. \u201cDrug patents result in higher prices because they help pharmaceutical companies set and control the price of prescription drugs,\u201d says Collen Clark, a trial lawyer and founder of <\/span>Schmidt & Clark LLP<\/span><\/a>, a national law firm specializing in dangerous drugs. \u201cThere’s no government regulation, unlike in Europe and Canada, so companies can set the price of medications at their will.\u201d The end result is that Americans pay more, by far, for prescription drugs than the citizens of any other developed nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of that, unsurprisingly, has many people looking to Mexico for a more affordable way to purchase the medications they need. This is particularly true in the Southwest, where it\u2019s possible to simply drive across the border to Mexican pharmacies. The benefits are obvious: People can get the same drugs for a much better price.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, many drugs that are prescription-only in the U.S., including <\/span>Lipitor<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Viagra<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Celebrex<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Nexium<\/span><\/a>, can be purchased over the counter in Mexico. But if you\u2019re thinking of getting your medications on a trip to Mexico, there are some important things to keep in mind regarding the safety and the regulations that dictate whether or not you can bring those drugs back into the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is buying prescription drugs in Mexico safe?<\/span><\/h2>\n

To purchase prescription drugs in Mexico, you\u2019ll need to go about it the same way you would in the U.S. You\u2019ll need to get a prescription from a licensed Mexican doctor\u2014a prescription from an American healthcare provider will not work\u2014and purchase the medications at a registered pharmacy in Mexico. This is perfectly legal and generally safe, but it may not be quite as safe as it would be in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBuying drugs from American pharmacies allows people to feel confident that there is oversight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),\u201d says <\/span>Aaron S. Kesselheim<\/span><\/a>, MD, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the <\/span>Program on Regulation, Therapeutics and Law<\/span><\/a> (PORTAL). \u201cIt may be unclear to the average patient whether the pharmacy they are buying from in Mexico is obtaining products via similarly safe supply chains. So people should do their best to ensure that the pharmacy they are buying from is appropriately licensed and regulated by the Mexican health authorities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Medicines purchased from unlicensed pharmacies could contain the wrong active ingredient or the wrong amount of active ingredient. In other words, there\u2019s a chance the drugs you\u2019re buying could be counterfeit versions that are unsafe or ineffective, even if they look just like the medicines your healthcare provider prescribed. Unregulated or counterfeit drugs may also contain harmful substances that can be toxic or carcinogenic. If a drug gets recalled, you might not hear about it if you bought the drug from a Mexican pharmacy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to ensuring that the pharmacy you\u2019re buying medications from is licensed and regulated, there are a few other steps you can take to help keep yourself safe.<\/span><\/p>\n