New York Times Examines Effect of Prescription Drug Reimportation on Canadian Online Pharmacies

The New York Times on Saturday examined how Canadian Web-based pharmacies could be "fundamentally" changed or eliminated as regulatory, political and economic pressures from U.S. and Canadian officials increase. According to the Times, Canadian officials are "casting an increasingly wary eye on the industry," raising concerns about increased liability lawsuits stemming from inadequate physician oversight and the ability to maintain an adequate supply of prescription drugs for Canadian residents. Canadian regulators in Manitoba recently told pharmacists that their licenses could be suspended in January if they continued to fill U.S. prescription orders, and some regulators have said that physicians who cosign a prescription without examining a patient may be in violation of medical standards. In addition, some U.S. drug manufacturers have stopped selling pharmaceuticals to pharmacies in Canada that sell to U.S. residents. Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh last week supported the drug manufacturers' position that cosigning prescriptions without an in-person consultation is "unethical and unprofessional," and he also indicated that he might shut down the Web-based pharmacy industry if he felt the move was necessary, the Times reports.

Changes
Several large online pharmacies have begun "making drastic changes in their business models," such as opening pharmacies in other countries, meaning that orders from online pharmacies might be processed by pharmacies in Europe, Australia, Israel and Latin America, rather than Canada, the Times reports. Such changes "promise to overhaul an industry that serves up to 100,000 mostly uninsured or underinsured Americans and has created more than 5,000 jobs for Canadian telephone salespeople, administrators and pharmacists," according to the Times (Krauss, New York Times, 12/11).

Opinion Pieces
In related news, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently published two opinion pieces on the issue of reimportation. Summaries of the articles appear below.

• Graham Satchwell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "[I]t behooves politicians to heed warnings and resist moves to increase reimportation into the [United States] until greater safeguards are in place to protect the public," according to Satchwell, author of "A Sick Business -- Counterfeit Medicines and Organized Crime." Satchwell writes that the more prescription drugs that are imported to the United States, "the greater the change that substandard medicines, counterfeit or otherwise will enter the legitimate distribution chain" (Satchwell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/11).
  
  
• Pete Stark, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Without a compelling argument to support their case against drug importation, the [Bush] administration has resorted to a familiar tactic in its political playbook: fear," Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) writes in a Journal Sentinel opinion piece. Stark concludes that reimportation "is not the long-term solution to the problem of soaring drug costs, but it is one sure way to immediately lower prices" (Stark, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/11).