Ummm, my bad, Canada is maybe not getting ALL its drugs; there may be enough, or not, maybe yes, maybe no. Yes and no are radical words. “Maybe” is the Canadian way.

Letter from Merck to Australian doctors and pharmacists:
“Pharmacists can assist by recommending all patients currently on Sinemet CR to make an appointment with their prescribing doctor as soon as possible to consider alternative arrangements.”

Press release from Health Canada:
Patients may also consult their health care professional in order to explore alternative treatments if they are unable to maintain an uninterrupted supply of their medication.

So Merck and Health Canada seem to write their press releases together. Millions of Parkies around the world should go see their doctor (who will not be available because every patient will be standing in line) and Parkies should “consider alternative arrangements”. None of them along the line realize how insulting that is.

It’s funny that Health Canada is copying Merck’s press release, because Merck does not even sell the drug in Canada !!!

Sinamet is sold in Canada by Bristol Meyers Squibb, and the only manufacturer of the drugs in Canada, Apotex, shut down all of Canada’s production of the drug, in January, four months after Merck announced a world-wide shortage of the drugs.

My friend Marty says this is all too bad to be true. He says he can get you all the pharmaceuticals you want from this guy he knows in India who knows some guy in North Korea, and there are pills aplenty.
It would be wise if someone in the Parkinson’s franchising empire would just come forward, and tell us the truth. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Just a list of facts. The timeline of events that lead to this fiasco. It would be such an amazing event in Parkieville, to be considered to be part of the picture, considering that we are the only consumers of the product and we pay $3 billion a year for the privilege.

I wonder how the corporate bo-ethicists would spin the optics on this one.

There has been some sort of major screw-up here, and it says everything that we are the only ones not permitted to see what went on. It’s our lives, our health, our money; the pills are made just for us. Shall we “consider alternative arrangements”?

I just know I’ve got enough drugs to get me into March. After that, it’s either legit pharma, or Marty’s friend in India, depending on which gang wins the turf.

It is really quite exciting being a Parkie. It’s all James Bond and Al Capone. Marty’s friend says its cost four cents to make a sinemet pill. Friend sells for a buck; 96% gross profit. Better than T-bills, that’s for sure.

But I have no idea what is true and what is not in all of this. The PD Bureau of Confusion and Disinformation keeps our hound-dogs off their trail. They beat us every time; piece of cake. They sneer when they tell us that if we don’t like it, we can go find ourselves an alternative arrangement. It is rare to be treated with such contempt; but they think they are talking to brain-damaged vegetables.

We learn a lot, being Parkies. But mostly stuff we wish we did not have to know.

So how many production units shut down, where and why; how is the triage done at the national level and at the patient’s level, how did management screw up this badly, who is profiting from the artificially-induced shortage, and who is going to do a huge study to find out what impact there is on PWP when they have to switch drugs, or whatever “alternative” they find. The PD org in Canada warns that kicking cold turkey on sinemet “can cause severe and irreversible damage”. Hey, don’t say you weren’t warned. Now get down on your knees and beg.