30 September 2004 - PRESS RELEASE

CANADAMEDS.COM REACTS IMMEDIATELY TO MERCK?S VIOXX RECALL

WINNIPEG – Daren Jorgenson, Pharmacist and Founder of Winnipeg’s Canadameds.com, announced Thursday, September 30th, 2004, that CanadaMeds.com has again taken the Internet Pharmacy lead in its proactive and immediate reaction to Merck’s announcement that it will voluntarily recall Vioxx, its arthritis and acute pain medication from sales worldwide. A n ongoing trial confirmed the medication increases the risk of heart attack and strokes. As a result of Merck's decision, CanadaMeds.com removed Vioxx from their list of available medications.

Jorgenson says, “As one of the leading Internet Pharmacy companies in Canada we are always thinking ahead of how best to serve our customers, and as such, we have contingency plans in place for emergencies like this one that endanger the safety of Americans - the health of all our customers is foremost. We have been fielding numerous calls and assuaging our customer’s safety fears.

All of our employees and affiliates have been given complete information about the recall, including a question and answer sheet, so everyone is prepared for the high volume of inquiries they are receiving .

CanadaMeds’ Customer Service Representatives (CSR’s) are currently calling all of their patients who have received Vioxx from them in the last 90 days. A letter explaining the situation and what recourse customers have has also been sent to all CanadaMeds.com customers. The letter advises that the risk an individual patient taking Vioxx will suffer a heart attack or stroke related to the drug is very small. Patients have been told to contact their physician for guidance regarding discontinuation and alternative therapies. In addition, the letter directs patients and health care professionals that the information can also be obtained from www.merck.com and www.vioxx.com, or may call 1-888-36-VIOXX (1-888-368-4699). The customer can also consult with one of the CanadaMeds pharmacists.

Jorgenson adds, “Our websites were immediately updated with all pertinent information relating to the recall. This instant and effective communication is necessary as we receive numerous hits on our sites daily. Again, we feel that by pre-developing our extensive safety systems that react to situations such as this one, all our patients have been notified in a timely fashion. While there are definitely some unique challenges to handling a situation like this when your patients are scattered throughout the world we had the proper procedures in place and feel confident with our actions. It is great to see that these systems we have in place allow us to quickly track each and every patient who obtained this drug from us so we can contact them”.

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