« March 2007

Diet Drug Acomplia Now on Sale in Some Mexican Border Pharmacies
March 13, 2007

Diet drug Acomplia (Rimonabant), which remains a considerable distance away from approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has nevertheless edged a step closer to eager American customers with news that it now can be bought in some pharmacies just across the Mexican border.

Several readers of the Acomplia Report have emailed us this past week with news that the highly anticipated diet pill has been found in pharmacies in Los Algodones, just across the border from Yuma, AZ; Tijuana, just across the border from California; and Nuevo Laredo, just across the Texas border.

At this point, buying Acomplia in Mexican pharmacies appears to be a hit-or-miss proposition, with some pharmacies telling prospective customers they had not heard of the diet drug or had not received it yet. And we have had no reports of anyone acquiring Acomplia from a Mexican pharmacy by mail.

Mexican prices for the diet drug reported to the Acomplia Report were in the $100 range for 28 pills, making purchases in Mexican border towns -- if a visitor either lives just across the border or is in Mexico on holiday -- a less expensive option than purchasing the diet pill by mail order from Europe.

But while millions of Americans bring prescription drugs into the United States from Mexico each year, we would remind readers of a few basics they should keep in mind.

• The FDA has repeatedly warned that many "brand-name" drugs purchased in Mexican border pharmacies -- even those in perfect packaging -- have been found to be counterfeit. Surprisingly low prices for drugs should be treated with particular suspicion.

• The importation of "unapproved new drugs" -- any drugs that have not received FDA approval, as is the case with Acomplia -- is prohibited.

• The importation of a personal supply of any drug must be declared to U.S. Customs, and a valid prescription from a U.S doctor -- not a prescription from the blank pads found on the counters of many Mexican border pharmacies -- is required.

• Any medication brought into the United States must be in the originally-dispensed container (not wadded up in a tissue or decanted into a tiny unmarked envelope).

• Lying to U.S. Customs about having drugs -- if caught -- could result simply in the drugs being taken away. But it could also result in arrest.