Prescription Medications

Piapo says on Jul 4, 2007, 05:41:

You can buy anything in Colombia :) I least I've never experienced any problems in my 25 years of existence :)

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jaramillo says on Jul 4, 2007, 07:45:

When you get there establish a friendly relationship with one or two pharmacists. You'll get what you need.

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tomtom33 says on Jul 4, 2007, 08:07:

Some stuff is cheap. Other stuff is not. A couple of years ago, I did price comparisons on my meds. The Colombia prices averaged maybe 10 to 15% less.

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Miguel says on Jul 4, 2007, 09:33:

" or is this a little packet of white powder? In that case you don't need a script, just 12K. ;)"

10k en Barranquilla;-)

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jul 4, 2007, 09:43:

In my very limited experience, the pharmacists seem to have a flexible set of rules. I was recently with some friends and one of them had had a molar removed and needed to refill his prescriptions. He had been prescribed 800 mg tablets of Advil plus some amoxocillin (sp?). He didn't have the script with him but did have one or two pills remaining in each type of blister pack.

We went to three pharmacies. Two wouldn't give him a refill without the script, the third just wanted to see the blister packs and they gave him both drugs.

Oh, I also won a little bet. I kept telling the guy "rather than take that huge horse pill of Advil, take 4 regular Advils or 4 generic ibuprofen of 200 mgs each. I have both the branded and the generic and they'll go down easier than that big pill." He didn't believe me that they were the same thing but the pharmacist set him straight. And I am now 1000 pesos richer. Whoo-hoo!

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gringoloid says on Jul 4, 2007, 10:38:

Alright, you pbh'ers have given me the confidence to go out and try and find a source today. I do have a script that meets all federal regulations in the States. I do want to say that this is a "controlled substance" that I need and that is going to make this much more difficult.

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BAQ says on Jul 4, 2007, 11:31:

Unless you are talking about really hard core pain killers
and sleeping pills like Xanex, you dont need an RX for other other stuff. Antibiotics, Vicodin (sold here under the name of DOVIR) blood pressure meds ect are all over the counter.

That is the ONE THING I live about this country, if I get a sinus infection, I can call the pharmacy and have antibiotics delivered in 15 min, no need to go to the doctor to get an RX.

IF YOU LIVE IN BOGOTA, BARRANQUILLA OR CARTAGENIA, look into a medical service called AMI, in Bogota, the company runs under a different name but is all one company. Just look for the large white ambulances with several red running hearts on the side of it. they provide ambulance service and house call doctors 24 hours a day. I pay 50K pesos a month for my wife and me, it is WELL WORTH THE MONEY to have access to urgent care doctor visits to your home and obviously the ambulance service that comes with it if needed. They also have a pharmacy service, will come and do blood work ect.

Semper Fidelis !

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aztec says on Jul 4, 2007, 13:16:

Yes this problem ended up being one of the insurmountable obstacles to our move to Bogotá. At that time the medicine my wife was taking was absolutely necessary for her wellbeing. It was not available in Colombia in the format prescribed. Even her friend, a pharmacist at the hospital, could not acquire the drug because it was unavailable in the country.

We finally worked it out where we could get several months of the medication in the States. That would have neccssecated a return to the USA about every six months.

If I understand your question the availability of your medication is available in Colombia. The problem is that is controlled? It is our experience if a drug(medicine) is in Colombia you will be able to acquire it. You will need a doctor in most of those cases.

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Man Tequila says on Jul 4, 2007, 21:29:

I have bought medicine in Colombia.

Many brand name medicines cost roughly the same as in Canada.
Many generic products cost 10% of the cost in Canada.

The pharmacists I talked to, in Medellin, Bogota and Cartagena told me that narcotics and benzodiazepines required a script. I was asking out of curiosity, and did not plead my case, try to bribe, etc. I'm sure it could be done.

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

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baqbum says on Jul 4, 2007, 22:30:

Good and bad, hit and miss...

It really depends what you're looking for. You say "controlled substance" - do you mean in the US or wherever, or in CO? If you are looking for schedule 1 drugs, then you may be disappointed... and surprised. An example: Valium is controlled there (though very cheap), but "Winadine F", the equivalent of Tylenol 3 (30 mgs codeine), is over the counter. I have Fibromyalagia, and it is always handy to have this around, so I buy it before I return. If you are looking for harder stuff than this, then I believe you're out of luck. I have never heard of Oxycodone or Demerol even existing except on the rare occasion. In fact, my dentist gave me a prescription to be filled here in the US on the 2nd time I had dental work in CO. The first time I was given a script for Oxycodone, but it was imposssible to fill.

I live there about 1/4 of the year, and the way it works is really hit and miss (at least in the past for me). If you find the owner or manager of a farmacia and you talk to him and explain what it is you need, something that requires a Colombian script, then sometimes they will be happy to oblige (the typical worker will not do this, so don't even bother). In this case your case will be helped if you buy in bulk, making it worth their trouble.

If you're in B/quilla, I might be able to give you the names of some farmacias that know me.

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tomtom33 says on Jul 5, 2007, 04:09:

The generics are cheap, and you get what you pay for. Unlike US generics, Colombian generics have few controls. You really don't know what you are actually getting.

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gringoloid says on Jul 5, 2007, 04:28:

Hats off to DonGringo for spending all of yesterday afternoon walking around and calling his doctor friends in an effort to find my medication.

This may be something to be noted if you're in the same position: There is a farmacia attached to the American Red Cross in Bogota that DG found that has my medication. This is about the only place in Bogota where you can get just about anything you need.

thanks for all your help and suggestions; they're greatly appreciated!

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aztec says on Jul 5, 2007, 07:53:

As mentioned by tomtom33, generics are not to be trusted. We were advised by Doctors at Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá against them. They emphatically stated they would not use them.

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BAQ says on Jul 5, 2007, 11:29:

You can get Oxycontine in Colombia, it requires an RX and it is EXPENSIVE AS HELL, but you can get it.

A friendly word of advice, do what I have had to do, RESEARCH the medications you need. If you are in the U.S. take the advertised name ADVIL for example and find its GENERIC name IBUPROFIN. Then find the exact ingrediants in the medication. A majority of the time, you will be able to find that drug here in Colombia or a very close variation of it.

Semper Fidelis !

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Man Tequila says on Jul 5, 2007, 15:20:

Most Colombian pharmacies have a pharmacoepia that lists all the medicines and their chemical effects and are happy to let you use them.

I would use Colombian generics for simple problems without hesitation -- the Colombian naproxen (a prescription medicine in Canada but not the US) works great and costs 10% of what I would pay here. I load up when I go.

If I had high blood pressure, I would try the generic and see if the pressure normalized. If I had cancer, I would not trust the generic.

The WHO monitors counterfeit drugs. Colombia has about as many known cases as the US. Even brand name drugs can be counterfeited, but presumably the controls are better. You probably do get what you pay for.

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

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gringoloid says on Jul 5, 2007, 18:18:

OK, its 8PM and I finally got my medication. About 10 hours spent on this.

The farmacia would not accept my script because my doctor in Los Angeles wrote all three meds I take on the same script. Only one is a controlled substance and the other two are basically harmless.

Colombian law is that the controlled substance is written on the script with nothing else.

So they sent me in for a medical evaluation; it was only $14 USD, but a lot of waiting.

All of this for 30 pills at a cost of $164 USD.

I don't know how I'm going to live here with the cost of all three meds at $450 per month.

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Man Tequila says on Jul 5, 2007, 18:57:

What controls do (purportedly) brand name medicines have in Colombia?

I am not trying to belittle the serious problem of counterfeit medicine -- http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs275/en/index.html

But the problem seems smaller in Colombia than many other countries. According to the Association of Colombian Phramaceutical Indistries (ASINFAR), 5% of medicines in Colombia are "contraband, counterfeit or adulterated" ($60m of $1300m pesos). I believe this also includes expired medicines.

Cite: http://www.ifpma.org/Issues/Content/pdfs/IMPACT_counterfeit_estimate_1...

In Russia 10%, Nigeria 16%, Mexico 10%, Indonesia 25%, Kenya 30%, Angola 70%, Peru 40%, Lebanon 35%, China 8%, Phillipines 30%. I believe the individual number of cases of known counterfeits is similar in Colombia and in the US.

People who counterfeit make a bigger profit if they counterfeit a name brand. If the pill you take has a measurable effect (e.g. for blood pressure, diabetes) and you trust your pharmacist (who likely knows if the pill is fake or not), I do not see generics in Colombia as PARTICULARLY risky. But local knowledge trumps Internet stats, as always. I imagine pharmacists found to deal fake drugs in Colombia have a shorter than average life expectancy.

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jul 5, 2007, 20:18:

Well, up until recently the nation's largest pharmacy chain (with hundreds of stores) was owned by the Norte de Valle cocaine cartel. Given the ethics, or lack thereof, at the top, I doubt they were too worried about quality control, regulations and contraband. It was seized by the government a year or two ago and I've noticed they're still open. Must be OK now.

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jul 5, 2007, 20:25:

Correction: It was the Cali Cartel

http://149.101.1.32/opa/pr/2006/September/06_crm_646.html

Excerpt below:
----------------------
The Rodriguez-Orejuela brothers agreed to plead guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charged in the Southern District of New York that alleged that they laundered the illicit fortune of the Cali Cartel through a pharmaceutical drug empire that included more than 400 retail drug stores across Colombia and pharmaceutical drug laboratories that manufactured the drugs. By investing millions of dollars in cocaine-trafficking proceeds into these ostensibly legitimate companies – which included Drogas La Rebaja and Laboratorios Kressfor – the Rodriguez-Orejuela brothers laundered millions of dollars in Cali Cartel cocaine proceeds.

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jul 6, 2007, 06:14:

If your definition of big is five or ten or twenty stores... maybe.

Some cement companies in NYC, garbage hauling, wholesale food brokers, unions, transportation and storage companies... yep. BIG drug store chains... I seriously doubt it. But if you can back that claim up you should go see Robert Morgenthau. He'd be happy to set you up in a cushy witness relocation program in Bogota, Colombia.

Heck, even the relatively small and dumpy Duane Reed chain in NYC was a publicly traded corporation until two or three years ago.

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gringoloid says on Jul 6, 2007, 06:36:

alright, you guys hijacked my thread, but lets go with the generic drugs.

The medication I received yesterday in Bogota says it is made by "Janssen". I know for a fact that it is made by ALZA. I was assured at the farmacia that it was genuine. The pills look exactly the same.

So I guess Janssen is under license to manufacture this drug by ALZA. Or, Janssen may be some guy in a back yard lab.

The bottle is labled with the genuine name. Do you think this product is generic?

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BAQ says on Jul 6, 2007, 16:02:

ONE of the good generic brands (and there are many) is MK, if I remember any of the others, will let you know.

Just an FYI, I have NEVER had any problems with the Generic drugs here, in fact, the doctors here will tell you generic is OK. I have onl had one occasion where the doctor told me to buy the brand name and not the generic and that was for a specific stomach problem and treatment period.

Semper Fidelis !

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Man Tequila says on Jul 6, 2007, 22:05:

Doctors often recieve incentives form drug companies to push brand name medicines. I don't agree with it. It is easy to see a doctor recommending a certain medicine to a client (s)he percieves as being easily able to afford it. In Canada, generics are much more popular than they are in the US -- even though generics in Canada often cost almost as much as brand name medicines. I feel comfortsable with generics, have found the ones I have bought in Colombia effective, and have posted some of the research from the pharmaceutical industry itself ehich has no incentive to minimize the numbers. I also am not an expert on Colombia and have no specific locasl knowledge.

Drug companies contrsct medicines out all the time. Every pharmacy has a pharmacopeia you can read which should clarify who makes what. A pharmacoepia is a large book which listed all medicines available, who makes them, their chemistry, their side effects, dosage, indications, side effects, overdose info, pill description, drug interactions, etc. etc.

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

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goin_south says on Jul 6, 2007, 22:07:

"You can get Oxycontine in Colombia,...."

TERRIFIC! Pleeeease.....Lots of those Luscious Andean Roses on my casket. jejeje

Why Colombianitas? Personally... I just don't like pink areolar tissue.

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tomtom33 says on Jul 7, 2007, 04:42:

BAQ, I gues you have spoken to different doctors. The Colombian doctors with whom I have spoken tell me that generics in Colombia are iffy. I don't like to take any chances with my well being.

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goin_south says on Jul 7, 2007, 10:15:

tomtom33,....with ladies like that around, I don't think I'd need any other medications

Why Colombianitas? Personally... I just don't like pink areolar tissue.

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BAQ says on Jul 7, 2007, 13:51:

TOMTOM33, it depends on who is making the drug. Like I posted before, MK is a great brand for generics. Ask your Dr or the guys at the pharmacy which brands are good and which are IFFY.

Semper Fidelis !

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