Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Local businessman launches discount prescription Web site

After trying out Harvard and finishing up school at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, local resident Brad Stevens has returned to Fayette County. With his uncle, a medical doctor, he launched CanadianDiscountDrugs.com July 12.

CanadianDiscountDrugs.com allows U.S citizens to take advantage of the socialized healthcare system in Canada. The Canadian government requires drug manufacturers to charge significantly lower prices for prescription medications than in the U.S.

Stevens, a Peachtree City resident and the company's president and CEO, explains, "We are pleased to provide citizens, locally and nationwide, with affordable prescription fulfillment. It is one of the few businesses of its kind in the country where customers can use the web to rder their prescription medications from a Canadian pharmacy at savings of 30-80 percent off of U.S. prices."

Stevens' CanadianDiscountDrugs.com partnered with Total Care Pharmacy in Canada which fills all prescription orders. Total Care is a fully licensed pharmacy in Calgary, Alberta, that has been inspected and approved by Health Canada at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The firm's walk-in facility will serve local citizens in Ozark, Ala., while the company Web site at www.CanadianDiscountDrugs.com will allow customers anywhere in the country to purchase discounted medications online.

In Fayette County, residents can visit the Web site or make a phone call, and as Stevens says, "lower their drug costs by hundreds of dollars every month."

Senior citizens have been crossing the Canadian border for years to purchase prescription pharmaceuticals. CanadianDiscountDrugs.com extends access to these savings to local residents. According to Stevens, "The order process is easy, safe and secure. Customers visit the walk-in facility or the company Web site. After completing the health profile and providing a prescription from a U.S. physician, Canadian doctors at our partner pharmacy review and approve the order. Discounted medications are shipped directly to the customer's home."

He adds, "Customers have been so pleased with the savings, service and quality. One lady told us that she can now afford birthday presents for her grandchildren. We're saving her $400 a month."

Stevens also wants local nonprofit organizations and churches to know that CanadianDiscountDrugs.com offers fundraising through a per prescription offer. "We call it Rx Fundraising. Once registered in the program, CanadianDiscountDrugs.com will give a fixed amount for every purchase placed by customers wanting to credit their organzation," shares Stevens.

Stevens received local recognition in 1998 when he was the first student from McIntosh High School to attend Harvard University. Stevens and Dr. Russell Page Jr. conceived of the CanadianDiscountDrugs.com concept based on research and personal experiences relating to the extreme financial burden that pharmaceutical prices have on senior citizens and others depending on medications in the United States.

A second walk-in facility is scheduled to launch locally by the end of 2002.