Cities, state to import medicine from Canada

By Elizabeth Mehren
Los Angeles Times

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New Hampshire also said yesterday it would start importing some drugs for its prison inmates and Medicaid recipients, making it the first state to engage in the growing but illegal practice. Burlington, Vt., plans to start importing prescription drugs for city employees starting March 1, Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle said yesterday.

"Inflated (pharmaceutical) industry pricing and federal inaction have created an untenable situation for the residents of our city, who should not have to choose between paying for medications and paying for rent," Menino said.

The mayor, outlining his proposal at a City Council meeting, said the voluntary program would begin in July and at first would cover about half of the city's 15,000 workers and retirees. It would apply only to a limited number of prescription drugs.

Boston, Burlington and New Hampshire — which said it would begin its program as soon as possible — announced their intentions one day after President Bush signed into law a Medicare-reform package that did not include a provision allowing for the importation of drugs from Canada.

Filling prescriptions across the border, Menino said, was only a small part of the greater issue of affordable medicine. "We know that importation will not solve the price problem, but it will help," he said. "It will put pressure on the manufacturers to reduce prices."

Boston's plan mirrors one in the western Massachusetts town of Springfield, which in July became the first U.S. city to allow municipal workers to purchase pharmaceuticals from Canada. While Menino said he expected Boston to save at least $1 million by importing drugs, former Springfield Mayor Michael Albano called that figure "very conservative." Since the program began, Albano said, "We have come close to saving $1 million already. By next July, we will be looking at savings of $4 million to $9 million. If Boston is spending $61 million on drugs, the mayor can save 50 percent this way, easy."

Pharmaceuticals are less expensive in Canada because of provincial price regulations. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has questioned quality control, repeatedly has claimed that drugs purchased there could pose health risks to U.S. consumers.

Importing pharmaceuticals is illegal, but the FDA has chosen not to prosecute individuals or small groups of citizens who have crossed the border to buy reduced-price medication.

Tom McGinnis, director of pharmacy affairs for the FDA, said his agency was investigating the Canadian supplier of drugs for Springfield rather than prosecuting the city.

Safety, McGinnis said, was his agency's primary concern when it comes to the importing of drugs from Canada or any other country. "We have no authority outside the United States, so we worry about things we have no data or information on," he said. "We don't know how these things are made (in Canada), how they are packaged or stored — and that bothers us."

But Andy Troszok, vice president of the Canadian International Pharmacists Association, said that "not a single U.S. patient has been harmed from the Canadian system."

"And I don't see Canadians dropping dead right, left and center because of tainted drugs," Troszok said. "I just wish everyone would stop talking about the smoke screen of safety and concentrate on the real story: It's about money."

In addition to purchasing from Canada the most commonly prescribed drugs for its prison population and Medicaid recipients, New Hampshire said it will post a Web site with links to Canadian pharmacies, where any state resident can get a prescription filled. The state said it would certify the safety standards at those pharmacies.

Wanda Moebius, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said municipal leaders would do better to tell employees about programs for people who cannot afford prescription drugs. "People's safety shouldn't take a back seat to savings," she said.

Burlington, the largest city in Vermont, has 600 employees, but Clavelle said he wants to expand the prescription option to other Vermonters. "I'm hopeful to create a program that would reach school employees, city retirees and other citizens," he said.

Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota and New York City also are exploring plans to import medication from Canada.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., appearing with Menino, the Boston mayor, at an unrelated event yesterday, said he supports the mayor's plan.

"As part of the effort to reclaim Medicare and to move this nation into an affordable, dependable, reliable prescription-drug program for seniors, I think importation from Canada is justified," he said.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.

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