Better access to veterinary medicines, for the love of animals

Jean Lafleur, who is passionate about animals, makes a heartfelt cry: he wants the price of medications for pets to remain affordable.

A little over a year ago, her dog Scrooge fell ill. His owner took him to an emergency veterinary center. He left with a bill for $780.

The service was great, the technique was great. Nothing to say against the treatment. What I have to say against is the price of drugshe said.

Jean Lafleur knows something about this. A now retired pharmacist, he spent 40 years of his life behind a counter handling prescriptions. He is convinced that he would have paid much less if he had purchased these same medications at the pharmacy.

So, when I got home, I started to analyze the cost of each of these molecules. […] only to finally fall out of my chair when I saw the prices that were being asked for certain medications. I think it’s unfair profitdenounces Jean Lafleur.

In Quebec, pharmacists have the right to sell medications intended for animals. It is also possible to open a file for your pet in any pharmacy.

According to Jacques Nantel, marketing expert, the consumer is being fooled.

The majority of consumers do not even know that they can have a file for their animal from a pharmacist. Essentially, you have an industry that functions quite well and relies on consumer ignorance. It’s an industry that operates on the opacity of things.

What worries me is that people no longer have the means to care for their animals, [que] the animals suffer, explains Jean Lafleur. It’s part of humanity to have pets.

To check if medicines are really cheaper at the pharmacy, The facture has gone through veterinary bills that animal owners from all over Quebec have sent to him. In addition, collaborating pharmacists agreed to submit their prices to us.

We were therefore able to compare the prices of around thirty drugs sold in clinics to the probable prices charged in pharmacies.

As a result, our sample reveals a gap of approximately 36% between the price of drugs purchased in veterinary clinics and the price in pharmacies.

In general, it is clearly more advantageous for the consumer to buy medications for dogs and cats from the pharmacist.

Why such a price gap?

The Order of Veterinary Physicians of Quebec (OMVQ) explains to us that it is a free market, that the prices of drugs sold in veterinary clinics are not regulated.

Veterinarians are private companies, so they are the ones who will adjust their prices, indicates Gaston Riouxpresident of the organization.

According to the president of the Association of Quebec Veterinary Doctors in Small Animal Practice, which represents approximately 50% of veterinary doctors, the price of the drugs is justified, because it covers much more than the molecule.

The veterinarian, each time, will make sure to review the entire file when he renews his prescription, ensuring that the dosage is always the right one. We bill our medications so that it is profitable for our establishment, to cover our follow-ups by the veterinarian, the technicians, the receptionist, for our record keeping.

Medicines for human use are highly regulatedunderlines Wendy Chui, pharmacist in Ontario and owner of the online pharmacy Pets Drug Mart. We have all kinds of safeguards, like insurance companies and governments that regulate prices.

Over $100 in pharmacy savings per month

We push our investigation further by calling on my dog ​​Babou. For several years he has suffered from epilepsy. His attacks are infrequent, but if his situation worsens, medication should be considered.

There is a molecule, also used for humans, which would be a good choice for Babou: levetiracetam.

We therefore request a prescription for Babou. The veterinarian explains to us that the dog will need two levetiracetam tablets, three times a day. At the clinic, this medication sells for $160 for one month.

How much does levetiracetam cost in pharmacies? After a tour of four pharmacies, here are the prices obtained for one month:

• 70,83 $
• 64,30 $
• 59,17 $
• 57,10 $

Even the highest price found at the pharmacy is half that at the veterinarian.

We also tried to order the medicine for Babou from Wendy Chui’s pharmacy, Pets Drug Martwhich has a storefront in Ontario and which honors the ordinances of all Canadian provinces. Here, levetiracetam sells for $40.50 for one month.

Even adding the $23 prescription fee charged by the veterinary clinic and the $15 shipping fee, we are talking about a potential savings of more than $1,200 per year.

Conflict of interest

Wendy Chui even questions whether veterinarians have the right to sell medicines.

I think there is a conflict of interest in selling self-prescribed medications.she maintains. Vets should be frank and open about this. Let them say: “I sell this medicine a little more expensive because I have an expensive practice, but you get it right away. You can also get it at a pharmacy.”

Jacques Nantel also believes that there is a conflict of interest here.

On the ethical level, on the level of transparency, it should not exist because it is clear in ethics, in professional conduct in particular, that you are squarely in a conflict of interest, he says. I’m not saying that this is the case for veterinarians, but there is certainly a temptation to prescribe more.

In Quebec, doctors lost the right to sell drugs in the 1970s. We asked theOMVQ why veterinarians still have this right.

It is a privilege of doctors [vétérinaires] to prescribe and sell, says Gaston Rioux. Obviously, this privilege must be accompanied by responsibilities. His responsibility [au vétérinaire]is to justify the costs and ensure that it is not excessive.

The president of the Order admits that this privilege must be part of the reflections on the future of the profession.

Text written in collaboration with Martin Jolicoeur and The Fifth Estate