You’re probably familiar with the practice of drug reimportation. American pharmaceutical companies sell meds somewhat cheaper abroad than they do in the U.S. As a result, several Americans make a practice of shopping for their more expensive drugs in Canada or Mexico, either by making a roadtrip for the border or by shopping for mail-order.
The act of bringing meds back into the U.S. is currently generally illegal. Officially, this is due to concerns about the FDA being unable to regulate safety in foreign pharmacies and in foreign drug supplies…but there is a certain amount of speculation that the ban is really to protect the bottom lines of Big Pharma.
With the change of political winds, Congress is now reconsidering reimportation’s illegality.
It seems that Canadians might be feeling a little uncomfortable with the prospect of so many Americans seeking to become patrons of Canadian pharmacies. From Business Insurance:
Four pharmacy groups are urging Canada’s minister of health to prevent the bulk export of prescription drugs in response to a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Congress to allow prescription drugs to be re-imported from Canada.
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The Canadian Pharmacists Assn., the Ontario Pharmacists Assn., the Canadian Assn. for Pharmacy Distribution Management and the Best Medicines Coalition sent a letter to Minister of Health Tony Clement asking him to respond proactively to the U.S. legislation introduced last week.