Last week, The FDA authorized the State of Florida to import pharmaceutical products from Canada. The price of brand name pharmaceutical products in the US is almost three times the cost of identical pharmaceuticals in Canadaso this approach could save the United States money.
While there are some administrative issues to resolve on the American side, the biggest problem is this: Canada doesn’t want to sell. CBC reports that the Canadian Minister of Health, Mark Holland, stated:
“There is no way we will allow any jurisdiction, whether state or other foreign jurisdiction, to jeopardize the Canadian drug supply. That is not an adequate solution to any challenge you may face…
“We are going to do everything in our power to ensure that another country cannot be given the ability to plunder our healthcare system for their own benefit.”Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland.
Canada is concerned that the United States would quickly deplete Canada’s drug supply. This issue also arose in 2019 during the Trump administration and Canadians had a similar response. at that time:
Canada does not have a sufficient supply of prescription drugs to meet U.S. demand, and importing drugs from Canada would not significantly reduce U.S. prices, Ottawa’s acting ambassador told U.S. officials in recent meetings, according to a statement released Friday. .[the statement] cited a 2019 study that projected that if 40% of U.S. prescriptions were filled from Canada, the Canadian drug supply would be depleted in 118 days…the U.S. state of Florida spends more on prescription drugs than all of Canada.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-health-supplies/canadian-ambassador-says-drug-imports-would-not-lower-us-prices-idUSKBN1XB55E/
The FDA may not take into account that if states begin importing drugs from Canada, pharmaceutical companies may decide to raise prices in Canada closer to U.S. levels, since the United States is the largest market for most drugs. pharmaceutical products.
Much more to come.
