Two MD/ MBA graduates find Canadian online prescription drugs cheaper

Bradley Quon (MD/MBA'05)and Rafael Firszt (MD/MBA'05) found Canadian consumers could save an average 24% by purchasing drugs from online Canadian pharmacies rather than from traditional US drugstore chains.

Their published article compares drug prices at Canadian Internet pharmacies with US retail pharmaceutical chains (Quon, B.S., Firszt, R. and Eisenberg, M.J. "A Comparison of Brand-Name Drug Prices between Canadian-Based Internet Pharmacies and Major U.S. Drug Chain Pharmacies," Annals of Internal Medicine, 2005, 143 (6): 397-403).

Based on December 2004 prices for 44 popular branded (non-generic) prescription drugs, the authors found Canadian consumers could save an average 24% by purchasing drugs from online Canadian pharmacies rather than from traditional US drugstore chains.

The article is based on Quon and Firszt's MD/MBA independent study project supervised by Derek Hart in McGill's Faculty of Management.

Congratulations to Ray Firszt and Bradley Quon, co-author Mark Eisenberg (Jewish General Hospital), as well as Derek Hart as independent project supervisor!