I recently found the following false statement written in a brochure from MedCorps Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. which claims to be "a licenced International Pharmaceuticals Company" located in Freeport, Bahamas. (emphasis mine)

"Since it has become illegal to sell, purchase or import any Spanish labeled growth hormone from Mexico for personal use into the United States, we do not sell any growth hormone from Mexico.  This is because it is now illegal to import a three month supply of any Spanish labeled growth hormone from Mexico because such growth hormone is a foreign version of a drug produced in the United States."

The false statement above is an obvious attempt by MedCorps Pharmaceuticals to scare persons resident of the United States into not buying growth hormone in Mexico, and hopefully to buy growth hormone from them, at an exhorbitant price compared to what the same costs in Mexico.  MedCorps sells growth hormone (they don't mention which brand) by mail order at a cost of $25/i.u., (plus... an initial $350 charge for a doctor's prescription!!!)  I buy growth hormone, Humatrope in Mexico City for about $10 per i.u.  Eli Lilly de Mexico confirmed that my source is legitimate, and I have been using it and seeing and feeling the good results, so I know the GH I use is not fake.

If we examine the above statement by MedCorps Pharmaceuticals (which I insist is false) we can immediately see two lies.  The first is that growth hormone from Mexico is a "foreign version of a drug produced in the United States."  Humatrope is not produced in Mexico, it is produced in Indianapolis, Indiana, and imported into Mexico, where it pays no duties. Secondly, there cannot be two versions of growth hormone, one produced for consumption in the United States and another produced for foreigners! Growth hormone is a protein composed of a chain of 191 amino acids, and it is identical for persons in the United States as it is for persons in Mexico! Eli Lilly makes only one version of Humatrope, and U.S. Customs doesn't care if the label is written or not in Spanish!

The second blatant lie is "Since it has become illegal to sell, purchase or import any Spanish labeled growth hormone from Mexico for personal use into the United States (etc.)... This is because it is now illegal to import a three month supply of any Spanish labeled growth hormone from Mexico..." This statement implies that once upon a time it was legal to purchase or import Spanish labeled growth hormone from Mexico, but that a Law has since been passed to forbid this.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Mexico, the United States, and Canada intentionally signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) specifically to avoid such trade practices, and I am pretty sure there isn't any Federal or State law in the United States which forbids a consumer from buying a legal medicine in Mexico.

I recently assisted Mr. M. B., (e-mail sent on request) a resident of Sacramento, California to save thousands of dollars in the purchase of 182 i.u.'s (14 vials of 13 i.u.'s each) of Humatrope.  In all, including air fare to Mexico, a nice hotel for three days, a visit to my doctor who gave him a legal prescription for Humatrope and 200 syringes, he spent a little over $2,000 (which works out to about $13/i.u. including all his expenses and his visit to the doctor and a prescription!) In all, he saved nearly $3,000 on this purchase alone, compared to what he would have paid had he bought it through MedCorps Pharmaceuticals.  And he will save more than this amount in the future, because he will not have to fly to Mexico to purchase his medicine anymore, since it will be a continuation of his treatment begun in Mexico and he will be able to have it shipped directly to him.  Mr. M. B. reported to me that on his return he declared the Humatrope at U.S. Customs, and after showing his legal prescription and the merchandise packed in frozen gel to the Customs official, he was waved through without delay.

In 1998, Johnny Adams, a resident of California, also contacted me about the possibility of buying growth hormone in Mexico.  Soon after, Mr. Adams was told by his doctor to beware of growth hormone made in Mexico, because it is derived from human cadavers and could contain deadly viruses! I believe this was another attempt to scare residents of the United States into buying growth hormone in the United States, instead of at less than half the cost in Mexico.  After Mr. Adams called me long distance and cautioned me from buying GH in Mexico, I called Eli Lilly de Mexico.  The person I spoke to told me he had never heard of counterfeit growth hormone being sold in Mexico, and that if it was true he would know it. In the meantime, Mr. Adams wrote a post cautioning Americans to beware of buying growth hormone in Mexico. I recently checked (Feb. 1999) with Eli Lilly de Mexico, and they have no knowledge of any counterfeit growth hormone of any brand being sold in Mexico. At less than $10 per i.u. there cannot be much incentive left for a counterfeiter to risk going to jail.

I know that counterfeit growth hormone does exist.  I have corresponded with Aaron Sapiro, who bought false growth hormone by mail order from a source that said it was in Pakistan, then in Turkey...   (see my correspondence with Aaron Sapiro, at the following URL:

This was a scam, and Mr. Sapiro lost several thousand dollars.  But counterfeit growth hormone derived from human cadavers...

Until 1985 growth hormone was derived from cadavers.  After an outbreak of CJD ("mad cow") desease mostly among midgets in Europe, the virus was traced to cadaver-derived GH... One batch of natural GH from a source in France was ordered to be destroyed by the French Government, but instead the laboratory, resenting that the Government wanted them to destroy what they considered to be a fortune in growth hormone, sold it on the black market.  That batch, in the late 1980's, was later implicated in the spread of the deadly virus.  Today, however, all growth hormone sold anywhere in the world is recombinant HGH, made in laboratories by genetic engineering, and is untainted with any virus.  I don't think any unscrupulous businessman today could even obtain growth hormone derived from cadavers!

I will be happy to assist anybody that wishes to come to Mexico to purchase Humatrope at these prices. You will easily save the cost of coming here, especially if you were already coming on a vacation. You will also avoid many problems by using my experience.

I do not ship Humatrope to the United States, but I can assist you to buy it from sources within the United States. I can also help you to buy generic growth hormone, somatropin, which is identical to brand name growth hormone but less expensive. Please see my page Buying Growth Hormone in Mexico and read Julie's experience coming to Mexico.

Some of my most interesting and educational correspondence with doctors and scientists and persons on a life extension program are found here: