Many patients have insurance plans that cover prescription drugs, but those of us who are out of pocket for their required drugs can be faced with very expensive treatments. Examples are Prevacid and Claritin. For this we have turned to Pharmaconsult (formerly, "British and American Pharmacy") in Paris France and saved a bundle.

Pharmaconsult

Some of the medications we've looked into lately with exchange rates as of the time we called:

U.S. Brand name	generic name	French brand name	qty	U.S. cost	French cost
Prilosec 20mg	omeprazole	Mopral 20mg	30	$120	$61
Prevacid 30mg	lansoprazole	Lanzor 30mg	30	$120	$54
Claritin 10mg	loratadine	Clarityne 10mg	100	$200	$60

We typically order in bulk to amortize the shipping over a larger quantity (i.e., a recent order was for a year's worth of Prevacid for $731.74, including shipping), but your doctor and pocketbook will be your guide.

Placing your order

You can place your order by phone, fax or meail, but you'll certainly need to get in the prescription to them at some point: either a fax or a scanned image as an email attachment. They speak French, of course, and they have staff available who speaks English quite well. If you speak slowly, we think you'll find dealing with them quite pleasant. We prefer to do all of our business by email, and this usually is done in two steps.

First we send a note with the details of what we want: U.S. Brand name, generic name, dosage, and quantity. It's important to include the generic name because brand names are different in Europe (as noted in the chart above). They respond with the prices in French Francs, along with an approximate conversion to U.S. Dollars. Thenwe fax back our prescription with credit card and shipping information, along with requested shipping method.

They can either ship very fast via Federal Express in 2-3 days for about $100 in shipping and insurance, or they can ship slower in about a week and a half for about $20. Shipping times are approximate depending on delays in US customs, and we don't believe that there are any duties or tariffs or other complications for "importing" pharmaceuticals for personal use. We're quite sure you cannot sell any of these medications to others.

NOTE - Claritin no longer requires a prescription in the United States, but it's still much cheaper to purchase overseas than to purchase locally.

Dealing with the phones in Paris

Paris is nine hours ahead of California time, so this does require a bit of time shifting if you want to deal with them in person, otherwise you may wish to consider conducting your business via fax. Dialing internationally is a bit more complicated than domestic calls, so this guide may help:

	Voice:  011  33  1  40 07 06 54 
	Fax:    011  33  1  42 65 29 42 

In both cases, 011 means an international call follows, 33 is the country code for France, and 1 is the city code for Paris (sort of like our area codes). It's around a dollar a minute to call France, and a fax usually takes one or two minutes.

Are these the same drugs?

We certainly believe so. Most of these new drugs are still protected by patents, so they are made only by those who license those patents from the original manufacturer. Our experience with several different medications is that other than the French labeling, it really is the same stuff. We believe the lower prices are due to French price controls, but in any case we feel a lot safer ordering from Paris than from (say) Tijuana Mexico.

Contact Information

Clara and Roger Feldman
Pharmaconsult
16 Rue Vignon 75009 Paris FRANCE
Voice: 011 33 1 47424940
Fax: 011 33 1 42652942
Email: pharmaconsult at wanadoo.fr
Web: www.pharmaconsult-europe.com

Disclaimer

This information was written by a patient and does not constitute "medical advice". Only your doctor can write you a prescription for any medication.

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