MN and getting drugs online from Canada

[sweetcalie08]

Hey all (especially those from MN - MNnaloxone incl):

What do you guys think of the Minnesota governor implementing a program to allow state residents to purchase their drugs through a certain website, to get them cheaper from Canada? I don't like the sound of this... though retail pharmacists may make defenses against this new program, I only worry that this may become a nationwide deal and will greatly lower the demand for pharmacists. Granted, I never want to play devil's advocate or anything...but I just came across an article about this in my college newspaper and was wanting to hear some opinions.

BTW, I had seen a few articles regarding this online, but I can't remember any specifics to post links here at the moment.

Thanks.

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[LoneCoyote]

I've been doing a little research on this since there are similar bills pending in the California legislature as well. It is definitely becoming a trend. Illinois and Iowa have both made proposals, as have other counties and cities around the country. It seems that Canada cannot supply all the drugs to many programs because they have limited supplies themselves. And I believe I read the other days that some drug companies are going to stop exporting drugs to Canadian disributors that sell to the U.S. I'll see if I can dig up some articles. Personally, I do not think this is a solution to the high cost of drugs in America but maybe it will help to start some dialogue about ways that this problem can be addressed. It will definitely put some heat on big pharma, I think. I am not sure what that means for my future career in this industry but the question of rising drug costs needs to be addressed, and soon, because with all the baby boomers about to retire it's only getting bigger.

 

[jdpharmd?]

"We are also concerned that your plan, if implemented, would be in direct conflict with Federal and state law. As you know, prescription drugs sold in the United States must be approved by the FDA before they can enter the market, and drugs from foreign countries would generally not meet that requirement. I would leave it up to your pharmacy and legal experts to judge whether the program would violate current Illinois state pharmacy law, which parallels the Federal law, and also requires that drugs dispensed in Illinois be dispensed only by state-licensed pharmacies.

Drugs imported from Canada virtually never have the FDA-approved U.S. labeling, which is designed to inform patients about the drug's proper use and to give them warnings about particular dangers inherent in the drug. As a result, it is unclear how under this plan Illinois would ensure that its citizens get the necessary information and warnings."

William K. Hubbard
Associate Commissioner for Policy & Planning
Taken from an article at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/importdrugs/kamath.html

It appears that most of these programs violate federal law and are planned and executed by people who are very interested in saving money (usually less than 10%) and less interested in the health of their employees. Since prescription drug costs are so visable to the end-user, they see this as a convenient place to save a buck. Is it really worth the risk? Does anyone think that perhaps the state employees just deserve better Rx insurance??

 

[MNnaloxone]

I have a bit of MN experience I could share. I'm still waiting on the undergrad thesis paper that my kid sister wrote on this subject-I heard it was pretty good.

1. My fiancee had the opportunity to visit with one of the BOP inspectors that went on Pawlenty's visit to the Great White North to assess the quality, among other things, of Canadian pharmacies. Out of the 10 that they visited, this inspector said that she would've definitely passed one based on MN BOP criteria, and would have to think about another. The other 8 would have failed miserably. Things evidently aren't the same up north-and a deficiency of safety immediately comes to mind.

2. At a staff meeting yesterday at my school (I'm on an academic rotation back in Fargo for 5 weeks), the dean said that a Canadian medical association (sounded like the CAN version of the AMA, but I could be wrong) was withdrawing support for Canadian MD's that write Rxs for the purpose of export.

3. Also learned: Pharmacists Mutual, the big RPh insurance company, will not support a pharmacist that winds up in court over his importation case.

My thoughts: I think that this is all going to blow over soon enough. It blew up because the media is always looking for the next 'insider' knowledge to 'help' the consumer. What you don't hear from channel 4's 'I team' or the USA Today is that:

1. By importing drugs, you are breaking the law. From what I understand, even personal use issues are illegal for the most part (few exceptions).
2. Most generic medications are actually cheaper in the US (Pharmacy Today? had an article on this a few months back.) Take a look at a list of medications that will come off patent protection in the next 2-3 years, and there will be several generic alternatives available to the patient. Most of the business that this Canada thing is generating is due to maintainence meds-and you're going to see a lot of those go generic real soon. If you want, we can talk about how these meds are cheaper in the US. I think I could make a good illustration for it (hopefully I'm not misguided...)

I don't think the FDA is going to have to go on a crusade to shut this down, I think that the external pressures will (see points 2 and 3 above). If it does need to step in, it will have to do so by slapping fines on the consumer-something the FDA doesn't want to do (they've already got a bad image in the eyes of the public, anyway).

azpremed: I think Abbott Labs was the company that all of a sudden had a "mystery shortage" for Can pharmacies. As for the rising cost of healthcare...my views would surely bring down a cascade of flames upon me.