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Q: Where can we obtain foreign medication in China?
12 years 17 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
When I came to China, I brought with me a rather large supply of the medications I normally use, within expiration dates. I also brought about 3 bottles of 1,000 pills each of aspirin and similar, since I was aware that local aspiring is a lot weaker than ours.
What I do now, as I run out, is to look up on Internet the particular medicine I need, and habe it translated to Chinese and print it. Then I go to a local pharmacy, and this place is huge, three full floors of nothing but medicines. I show one of the pharmacist there the page, and ask for it or an equivalent. In most cases, they do come up with one.
Many pharmaceutical Labs do make medicine in China, Also, some local Chinese Labs also copy and make similar products. Like what we call "generic" abroad. I have managed to locate most of the ones I need from local sources, and one hell of a lot cheaper than US or Canadian prices.
The only thing you must keep in mind is "strength", while with foreign medicines I may take one pill per day, with Chinese made medicine I have to take maybe 2 or 3 per day to achieve the same results.
bigkrishna:
true true, i did similar also... but the problem is that the generic brand we have here are not subject to proper quality control... as a result you have to buy more medication than necessary.... unlike european or us medication are quality ones... for instance coughing medications are loaded with morphine here in those chinese brands..morphine is a very good anti-cough drug, but we don't use morphine because of the strong side effects and addiction... don't trust those big pharmaceutical mall, they might be selling expired drugs in new boxes, so check the label, batch and expiration with the package and the pills....
Many major pharmaceutical chains in China carry Hong-Kong made brands of major pharmaceuticals. They are made to so-called Western standards. Additionally, Bayer and its divisions manufacture (and export) from China their products, selling for top RMB, are also available over-the-counter. Pfizer, the big American pharmaceutical house, also manufactures (and exports) their products from China, and they are made to international standards.
Foreign pharma is extremely limited here simply because if it were available it would push A LOT of companies out of business.
There are some local brands (and as said above, some large companies like Bayer and Pfizer are here in a limited capacity) that are acceptable.
If you can let me know what you are looking for, I can give you a point in the right direction.
Here are a few tips:
There are usually 3 brands for any given type of medicine. So, if you're looking for Gleemonex for Pets, there will be (usually) 3 generic brands here. One is cheap, one is mid-range, and one is "export quality", which is of course priced much higher. For example, if you have acid-reflux and need Prilosec (omeprazole), you can buy it here. One will be 20rmb, one will be around 60-80, and the other will be 180rmb. Never buy the chea one. The mid range is sometimes ok, but to be safe, pay the moey for the expensive one as it will be made by a larger (and more advanced) company for overseas export. China's FDA is nowhere near as good as any western country, but these export meds need to meet foreign criteria to be accepted as imports, so it's a safer bet that they are made to higher standards (hence the price).
If you need prescription meds, your only bet is to go to a larger city (preferably with a foreign doctor hospital like shanghai or beijing) and they will have access to foreign import meds.
The only other options are to have a friend from home mail you some stuff or take a trip to HK and load up.
Again, let me know if there is anything specific. I've had alot of experience with meds here, so I can hopefully let you know what is ok and what is not.
Shining_brow:
Hey Mr Tibbles! I'[ve had this sort of problem for a while now, and other than getting ppl going abroad to get what I need, I could only hope that a local hospital could give me what I want... and I don't like my chances (fortunately, I haven't yet run so low as to need that last resort!) But... I get regular bouts of arthritis, and I'm slowly becoming inured to codeine (I started at 12mg to give me pain relief, now 30mg only takes the edge off). So, oxycodone has been recommended (and NOT recommended, due to it's addictiveness). I've just acquired a bundle of Tramadol, but I'd still be interested in acquiring some of this oxycodone... Your thoughts??
bigkrishna:
sure, thanks for clarification........ but sometimes they might be selling the cheap stuffs packed in the expensive export package, how can you differentiate that? do you know any shops where i can obtain those quality drugs?
MrTibbles:
Shining_Brow: Hmm, it really depends on how severe your arthritis is. Oxycodone medications such as Oxycontin, Roxicodone, Percocet, Roxicet, Tylox, etc. are highly effective pain relievers, but there is that pesky addiction thing as well as the fact that you will build up a tolerance. So while they might work now, there is he possibility that they will be less effective if you take them on a regular basis. Either way you decide, you will need to see a doctor to get any of those types of drugs here. They are prescription only. Krishna - I might be able to help, but where are you? I know places in Shanghai, but outside of that I'm not sure.
Shining_brow:
Thanks MrT!! If I have to, I'll head over to the international hospital - but it's on the other side of the city :(
