Florence Socolov was among the legions of consumers who had turned to Canadian pharmacies, purchasing tablets to increase the strength of her bones because they were cheaper there than at home in Fort Lauderdale. Then she saw an advertisement in a Jewish magazine that offered another alternative.

Now Socolov, 74, goes on the Internet and orders her medication from Israel, where she can find lower prices than those at Canadian pharmacies and where she prefers to spend her money.

“There are enough companies that are being strangled into not doing business with Israel [because of political boycotts], and if I can do anything at all in my small way I will do it,” she said.

Israeli companies like MagenDavidMeds.com and IsraMeds.com court the prescription drug market by advertising in national Jewish newspapers and magazines, often pitching lower prices and solidarity. MagenDavidMeds.com ads tell shoppers they’ll be “saving money and supporting the Israeli economy at the same time.”

For her first order, placed in May, MagenDavidMeds.com charged Socolov $115.80 for a dozen 70 mg tablets of Fosamax, plus $9.99 for shipping. The same order would cost $210.79 at a Walgreens in Tamarac, and $133.23 from Canada Prescriptions Plus, an online supplier of prescription drugs.

Like Canada and much of Western Europe, the Israeli government establishes drug prices, rather than allowing them to be set by the free market as in the U.S. The prices are as much as 70 percent lower in Israel,MagenDavidMeds.com claims. Some brand name drugs are identical in Israel, and others are generic products that use the same chemical ingredients.

But critics say Americans who buy from other countries are compromising safety for cost.

“Many Canadian pharmacies have disclaimers that if you are hurt, you waive the right to sue them,” said Tom McGinnis, the Food and Drug Administration’s director of pharmacy affairs. If anything goes wrong with prescription drugs sold in the U.S., he said, consumers have recourse with the state pharmacy board and the FDA.

“It’s more of a threat to public health of U.S. citizens because we don’t know anything about these medications, how they are made, how they were stored and how they were shipped, as opposed to your state licensed pharmacy there in Florida.”

Socolov said she isn’t swayed by arguments U.S. drugs are safer.

“The [American] drug companies are robbers. They are not very straight with us. They are greedy,” she said. “I’m sure the drug companies of Canada do not wish to poison their people; Israel does not wish to poison its people.”

Nathan Jacobson, president of MagenDavidMeds.com, also downplayed the FDA concerns. He testified last summer before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary’s Task Force on Drug Importation, asserting the Israeli drugs are just as safe as those on the American market. Many drugs are manufactured in other countries in the first place, he argued. Lipitor and Viagra are made in Ireland, for example. Nexium is produced in Sweden and France. Prevacid is made in Japan.

Penny Matthews, the operations manager of MagenDavidMeds.com, said the company uses a foil packaging system to eliminate the threat of counterfeit drugs and stamps the expiration date on two layers of labels. That became standard practice throughout Israel years ago to prevent acts of terrorism against the drug supply, she said. And the online order must be backed up with the original prescription by mail or fax and verified by an Israeli pharmacist.

MagenDavidMeds.com opened last year with a call center in Toronto and shipping office outside of Tel Aviv. IsraMedsoperates a Web site and a toll-free number that rings directly into its center in Rehovot, Israel. The company has been in business since 1981 and has been exporting drugs to the U.S. for seven years, said Avi Fadida, marketing manager for IsraMeds.

Fadida said two-thirds of his clients are Jewish and like the idea of helping Israel financially. “We have Jewish people asking, especially in New York, in the Brooklyn area, begging for the kosher medications,” Fadida said.

Because they are considered lifesaving, prescription drugs are not subject to Jewish dietary laws. But some mainstream products create an issue for observant Jews because of such ingredients as gelatin or glycerin, which are made from non-kosher animals. Both Israeli companies advertise as selling only kosher products.

MagenDavidMeds.com said its clientele is mostly seniors without private health insurance plans, and Jews and evangelical Christians who want to support Israel with their wallets. AARP, which released a national survey showing that four of every five older Americans support allowing the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and other nations. The organization was using the poll to press Congress to pass a bill that would set up a certification process for legally importing medicines from selected European Union countries. The legislation is pending.

“The American market is just a lucrative market,” said Kirsten Sloan, AARP’s national coordinator for health, in Washington, D.C.

Janice Weintraub, 67, a Coral Springs resident, said a friend turned her from Canadian suppliers to MagenDavidMeds.com to buy Actonel for her osteoporosis.

“I checked and it was cheaper,” she said. “And why not support Israel?”

Still, Weintraub finds her situation baffling.

“The United States should supply the medicine at the same price or lower,” she said. “How can it come all the way from there to here and be a lower price? … I love Israel, but I’m an American, and I believe we should be able to get the medication here.”

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at or 954-572-2008.

COMPARISON OF DRUG PRICES

Company Quantity per order Price per tablet * Total price **

Lipitor 10 mg.

U.S Walgreens 30 $2.63 $78.99

Canada Canada Prescriptions 90 $1.89 $170.50

Israel MagenDavidMeds 30 $1.36 $40.88

IsraMeds 90 $1.44 $129.63

Actonel 30 mg.

U.S. Walgreens 30 $20.30 $609.09

Canada Canada Prescriptions 30 $12.81 $384.26

Israel MagenDavidMeds 28 $12.45 $348.56

IsraMeds 84 $12.42 $1,043.68

Zoloft 100 mg.

U.S. Walgreens 90 $2.53 $227.49

Canada Canada Prescriptions 100 $1.93 $192.91

Israel MagenDavidMeds 28 $2.50 $69.99

IsraMeds 84 $2.59 $217.97

Zocor 20mg.

U.S. Walgreens 30 $4.60 $137.99

Canada Canada Prescriptions 30 $2.47 $74.20

Israel MagenDavidMeds 30 $1.21 $36.40

IsraMeds 90 $1.39 $125.10

SOURCES: IsraMeds.com;

* All prices in U.S. dollars

** Prices from Canadian and Israeli pharmacies do not include shipping

NOTE: The cost goes down when buying generic brands from any of these companies