Pharmacy with Large Selection of Drugs

[Banana7]

Can anyone recommend a pharmacy with a large selection of drugs, sourced from USA or Canada, or a copy/generic version thereof? Of course, I'd also like a competitive/low price. Specifically, I'm looking for 1. taro-atorvastatin (atorvastatin calcium) to reduce cholesterol; 2. teva-ramipril (ramipril) to lower blood pressure.

[actonion]

I highly recommend  "Medisafe" they are an online Pharmacy company  based in Bangkok  thay are much cheaper (for me) than any high street Pharmacy.. you can talk to them via Facebook  they seem to be online 24/7 they speak excellent English,  & they deliver once a month to your door throughout Thailand.... cash on delivery, any medication i have asked for  has always been delivered  even pills for my dog ..

[lujanit]

Fascino opposite Siriraj hospital.  There is also a large pharmacy (don't remember the name) a few doors towards the river.

[Sheryl]

Moved to the Health forum. You are unlikely to find drugs sourced from US here due to very high costs and that almost all such brands can be sourced from Australia or Europe, closer & cheaper.

 

However there is no reason at all to buy an expensive foreign import if there is a locally made generic equiavlent, and there are for the 2 drugs you mention as follows:

 

Atorvastatin: Atorvin, Lipostat, Chlovas, Tovastin

Ramipril: Vaspril

 

There might also be GPO brands, in which case name would be the generic plus "GPO".

 

An excellent source of inexpensive generics in Bangkok is Rung Rote pharmacy on Sukhumvit Soi 77 (On Nut).  Take BTS to On Nut, walk up Soi 77 (On Nut) about 50-75 meters and you will see large Thai pharmacy on the right hand side (name is only in Thai). It tends to be crowded and little English spoken but if you write out the names in English they will understand.

[jojothai]

If you are in Bangkok, try Southeast Pharmacy, near junction of soi 15.
207-9 Sukhumvit Rd, Khlong Toei Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
https://www.facebook.com/SEPharmacy/
Very good prices. I use to buy my meds for a long time.
I see some farangs go in there with shopping lists.

Have staff Speak English very good. You can telephone, 095 905 8829

[Rimmer]

Off topic post removed topic is about:

 

Pharmacy with Large Selection of Drugs

 

[lujanit]

On 10/23/2021 at 12:03 PM, Sheryl said:

It tends to be crowded and little English spoken but if you write out the names in English they will understand.

 I always take a photo of the box in which the medicine comes in.  Arrange them in a folder.  Just show the photos to the person serving me. No problems then.

[CartagenaWarlock]

On 10/22/2021 at 10:01 PM, Banana7 said:

I'm looking for 1. taro-atorvastatin (atorvastatin calcium) to reduce cholesterol; 2. teva-ramipril (ramipril) to lower blood pressure.

Atorvastatin and Lisinopril have cheaper generic version. and faucini will be competitively priced

[Banana7]

On 10/23/2021 at 12:03 PM, Sheryl said:

Moved to the Health forum. You are unlikely to find drugs sourced from US here due to very high costs and that almost all such brands can be sourced from Australia or Europe, closer & cheaper.

 

However there is no reason at all to buy an expensive foreign import if there is a locally made generic equiavlent, and there are for the 2 drugs you mention as follows:

 

Atorvastatin: Atorvin, Lipostat, Chlovas, Tovastin

Ramipril: Vaspril

 

There might also be GPO brands, in which case name would be the generic plus "GPO".

 

An excellent source of inexpensive generics in Bangkok is Rung Rote pharmacy on Sukhumvit Soi 77 (On Nut).  Take BTS to On Nut, walk up Soi 77 (On Nut) about 50-75 meters and you will see large Thai pharmacy on the right hand side (name is only in Thai). It tends to be crowded and little English spoken but if you write out the names in English they will understand.

My concern of using drugs made in Thailand, is quality control. Is there any quality control? If a batch/lot wasn't made quite right, would the manufacturer dump/destroy it or would they sell it anyway ? From what I have seen, most products made in Thailand are made the cheapest way possible, to achieve a low selling price. Also there is very little, if any, quality control checks.

 

Are there any reputable third party checks, using international standards, on every batch of medication? If QC checks are done, could that party be easily bribed to pass a batch that doesn't meet standards?

 

 

[Asanee Yutta]

As a Thai my advice is that look around a large hospital near you (the ones with med school of their own). As these pharmacies tend to position themselves as retailer priced as wholesaler. 
If you live in Bangkok then Diamond pharmacy (https://goo.gl/maps/Le5j2fQUeyDwE5D86) is the first to come to my mind when I'm thinking of buying inexpensive meds for my grandma. Although, I do not think these pharmacies have very well English spoken assistants. The other pharmacy that I saw my mom ordered from is Chula Bhesaj จุฬาเภสัช (Chula Bhesaj Drug Store) - Bang Rak, Bangkok (foursquare.com). I haven't order from this shop personally but know that they have wide selection with very competitive price.

You can try fascino. They have fairly large selection of drugs at higher price (depends on where it's located, tend to be more expensive around tourists crowded area) , the largest branches are the big three that they called drug center, Fascino Siriraj, Fascino North Pattaya, Fascino Chiangmai.

Don't forget to research which brand would you really want as the prices varied tremendously.
For example, Lipitor (the original atorvastatin) could be up to 3,000 a box. While, Xarator (the second brand also from pfizer) is about 40% less expensive. Or you can opt for Thai brand and get them for even less than that.

 

 

[Asanee Yutta]

10 minutes ago, Banana7 said:

My concern of using drugs made in Thailand, is quality control. Is there any quality control? If a batch/lot wasn't made quite right, would the manufacturer dump/destroy it or would they sell it anyway ? From what I have seen, most products made in Thailand are made the cheapest way possible, to achieve a low selling price. Also there is very little, if any, quality control checks.

 

Are there any reputable third party checks, using international standards, on every batch of medication? If QC checks are done, could that party be easily bribed to pass a batch that doesn't meet standards?

 

 

I've been working as a community pharmacist for 5 years

There is quality control although the information is not really easy to access to. The only time that I have received the information about quality control is when the med rep came to talk with us. And I know they tend to be biased toward their company but alas, there is no such a thing as third party organization to check in Thailand. Although some company like MEGA or Berlin (the ones that I know of) do acquired some international manufacturing standard that I cannot recall (lol sorry).

They do recall the product when found correlation with major side effect though. There were 3-4 incidences where I have to recall meds in the past five years that I've been in the field.

About bribery - I'd say it's above my pay grade to say anything
 

[Banana7]

19 minutes ago, Asanee Yutta said:

I've been working as a community pharmacist for 5 years

There is quality control although the information is not really easy to access to. The only time that I have received the information about quality control is when the med rep came to talk with us. And I know they tend to be biased toward their company but alas, there is no such a thing as third party organization to check in Thailand. Although some company like MEGA or Berlin (the ones that I know of) do acquired some international manufacturing standard that I cannot recall (lol sorry).

They do recall the product when found correlation with major side effect though. There were 3-4 incidences where I have to recall meds in the past five years that I've been in the field.

About bribery - I'd say it's above my pay grade to say anything
 

That is one of major issues as you identify. Many medications have no written warranty, guarantee, or discussion or statement of quality control. Also they don't state if the manufacturing facility is ISO certified.

 

Next time you see the rep, asking him/her to put his statements about quality in writing and sign it and have the president of company sign it too. Tell us his reaction.

Edited October 25, 2021 by Banana7