New U.S. Study Validates CIPA’s Safety Procedures
March 30, 2012
A new report, by the prestigious U.S.-based National Bureau of Economic Research confirms that medications sold by online pharmacies accredited by the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) are 100 percent authentic. Test results show no difference in drug safety when compared to products from U.S. online pharmacies approved by American verifiers. The report also indicates that U.S. pharmacies on average charge 52.5 percent more for the same five top-selling brand-name medications.
The scientific study, "Unveiling the Mystery of Online Pharmacies: An Audit study," was conducted by Roger Bate, Ph.D., and Aparna Mathur, Ph.D., of the American Enterprise Institute along with Ginger Zhe Jin, Ph.D., from the University of Maryland Department of Economics.
The audit, performed in two rounds between 2009 and 2011, analyzed several popular maintenance medications and one lifestyle product: a total of 370 samples from 41 individual U.S. and Canadian or international online pharmacy websites. The majority of the website sources, and all of the Canadian sites, were accredited by CIPA. Many of the Canadian and other international sites were also approved by PharmacyChecker.com, a reputable independent verifier of online pharmacies, both within and outside the U.S.
"CIPA is delighted with these findings. The perfect safety record our licensed pharmacies have maintained during the decade since the association was formed in 2002 stands as proof of our excellent safety standards," said Tim Smith, CIPA's president and general manager. "This scientific evidence supports what CIPA's hundreds of thousands of American patients already know - that our pharmacies are safe, affordable and legitimate sources to rely on for their vital medications."
The entire Audit study is available at the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Read it here.
Find out more about CIPA's high standards here.
