As states and cities in the US continue looking at reimportation of cheaper prescription medicines from Canada as a way of closing budget gaps, and as the Bush Administration considers backing off its opposition to reimportation while in the harsh spotlight of a presidential election, major drug companies are doing best to shut off the flow of drugs from Canada to the US.
The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that “multinational drug giants have the Internet pharmacies on the run, raising Canadian drug prices to narrow the American advantage and cutting back sales to wholesalers.
“Their objective: crush on-line sales ahead of a vote in the U.S. Senate on several bills to legalize drug imports from Canada and the presidential election in November, where the issue is likely to make headlines.”
But some of these Canadian online pharmacies are trying to do an end-run around the drug companies, creating relationships with British and New Zealand pharmacies that will simply redirect the flow of imported drugs – perhaps even at lower prices than were being charged in Canada.
The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that “multinational drug giants have the Internet pharmacies on the run, raising Canadian drug prices to narrow the American advantage and cutting back sales to wholesalers.
“Their objective: crush on-line sales ahead of a vote in the U.S. Senate on several bills to legalize drug imports from Canada and the presidential election in November, where the issue is likely to make headlines.”
But some of these Canadian online pharmacies are trying to do an end-run around the drug companies, creating relationships with British and New Zealand pharmacies that will simply redirect the flow of imported drugs – perhaps even at lower prices than were being charged in Canada.
- KC's View:
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Like it or not, it seems that reimportation of prescription medicines is one of those avalanches that simply cannot be stopped.
Seems to us that rather than trying, maybe the drug companies and the government ought to be working harder at solving the problem of skyrocketing health care and prescription costs, as opposed to dealing with the essentially political issue of reimportation.
