Pharmacies in Canada zero in on US Latinos
Having built a $1 billion market in illegal, cross-border prescriptions by focusing on American seniors without drug coverage, Canadian Internet pharmacies are setting their sights on minority populations in the United States, especially Latinos, to drive a fresh wave of sales.
More pharmacies are offering Spanish-language versions of their websites. They are advertising in local ethnic newspapers and on radio. And they are looking to forge ties with local community leaders.
The biggest target population is Hispanics. One online pharmacy based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has hired a Portuguese-speaking pharmacist and is marketing to the Cape Verdean, Brazilian, and Portuguese communities in Massachusetts.
"Everyone targets the seniors, but there are other populations out there who have no insurance," said Robert Becker, pharmacist at Nexus Drugstore in Winnipeg, which advertises its website, www.canadianonlinerx.com, on Portuguese-language radio stations in Fall River.
The US Food and Drug Administration, which said it had been unaware of the practice until contacted by the Globe, said some non-English speakers may be unfamiliar with potential safety risks of importing prescriptions.
"One of our principal concerns has been that some populations, such as seniors, may not be as well suited to understanding the nuances of the business, and that could also apply to recent immigrant populations," said William Hubbard, the FDA's associate commissioner for planning and policy.
Canadian pharmacy operators engaged in the new trade said they are offering the same safe, brand-name drugs they ship to everyone else in the United States. The country's price controls allow them to sell drugs 20 to 80 percent cheaper than in the United States.
By clicking on the Portuguese flag at www.canadianonlinerx .com, consumers can find information in Portuguese about ordering drugs. The marketing efforts targeting Portuguese-speaking residents of Fall River started during the last three weeks. Becker said he has received about 30 orders from the city thus far.
Universal Drugstore Ltd., another Winnipeg pharmacy that operates an Internet sales operation at universaldrugstore.com, has built a Latino customer base in the United States that accounts for 10 percent of total sales, mostly in Florida and California, said company president Jeff Uhl.
Uhl said he has hired a former director of elderly affairs from the state of Florida, Gema Hernandez, to act as a consultant and build ties to Hispanic leaders in the state. Eight of his 24 telephone customer service representatives speak Spanish. Computer users who click on the Spanish link on the website are greeted with, "Bienvenidos a Universal Drugstore."
"When you have someone call and they can barely speak English, you have to do patient counseling, you have to develop a system," Uhl said.
Canadian pharmacy representatives said the trend is based on the recognition that new sales are going to come from word-of-mouth referrals and connections to local communities where large numbers of people lack health insurance.
The rate of people without insurance is highest among Hispanics, at 34 percent, according to census data provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit health advocacy group. That compares to whites, who have a 13 percent uninsured rate, and African-Americans, at 21 percent.
The move toward Spanish-language pharmacy sites has just begun to take off in the last several weeks and appears to be part of a rush to open new markets in the United States, said Gabriel Levitt, vice president of PharmacyChecker.com, which posts prices and monitors the operations of Canadian drugstores. There are at least 60 pharmacies engaged in Internet sales in Manitoba alone, creating a highly competitive environment.
"They not only look for new business, but they have to compete with each other," said Levitt. "It makes good business sense to get to the Spanish-speaking population, which is growing and faces more challenges in terms of medication prices."
Although it is illegal for Americans to import their prescriptions from Canada and elsewhere, the FDA has chosen not to try to block a popular source of drugs for seniors and other Americans who lack health insurance. It has chosen instead to issue a steady stream of warnings about safety, which have been widely ignored by many citizens and politicians.
Drug manufacturers, who charge their highest prices in the United States, oppose opening borders to drugs from countries with price controls. It said the profits it earns from US consumers are used for new research.
The issue also has become fodder in the campaign for the White House. Facing criticism by Democratic challenger John Kerry for opposing foreign drug importation, President George W. Bush said during a recent debate he would support importation if it can be proved safe.
Against that backdrop, municipalities and states have embraced importation as a way to lower drug costs. Among small cities is Fall River, which last week launched its own program, separate from the Portuguese-language site, for employees and city residents.
It uses the same Canadian company, CanaRx Services Inc., as Springfield, the first municipality to begin ordering Canadian drugs.
A Fall River healthcare advocate said the Canadian sources could prove popular among immigrants and the "working poor" who don't qualify for MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program.
"A great majority cannot get benefits," said Juraci Capataz, a caseworker with Catholic Social Services Inc. in Fall River. "They just can't afford their prescriptions."
Christopher Rowland can be reached at crowland@globe.com.
