Pharmacies in Canada gird for U.S. demand

By Theresa Agovino
The Associated Press

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But even he is unsure how he would respond if the city of Boston, which this week announced a plan to buy drugs from Canada, asked his firm to handle prescriptions for a pilot program open to current and retired employees.

"It would be exciting — and frightening," Hicks said. "That would be a lot of stress on our operation."

Executives at Canadian pharmacies that sell drugs to Americans at up to 50 percent savings are watching with a mix of delight and dread as more cities and states announce they are exploring purchasing drugs north of the border.

They aren't sure how to handle a massive influx of new customers — or even whether they could. They also don't want to taunt the pharmaceutical industry, which already is limiting supplies to Canada to discourage the sales.

New Hampshire's state government this week announced plans to purchase some drugs from Canada. And representatives from a dozen states met with six Canadian drug companies in Atlanta to discuss business possibilities. Only Springfield, Mass., now has a program that allows its employees to purchase Canadian drugs.

"I think even if half the people talking about buying from Canada did it, there would be problems," said Hicks, whose company is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

At some point — and no one knows when — availability will become an issue: Canada has a population of 31 million, and there is no way drug companies will ship enough medicine there to supply possibly millions of American state and city workers.

Some officials, such as those in Boston, believe buying Canadian drugs will send a powerful message to federal regulators.

"The more states and cities that buy Canadian drugs, the more pressure on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to address the problem of the high cost of medication in this country," said John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission.

Only drug manufacturers legally can bring their products into the United States, and U.S. regulators have cracked down on storefront operations. The FDA also says that the safety and quality of drugs from Canada can't be assured.

Five drug companies have announced this year that they were limiting their supply to Canada to stop drugs from being shipped back to U.S. consumers. Some Canadian Internet pharmacies have reported problems.

"At the end of the day, getting supply is getting more difficult and expensive," Hicks said.

Al Kula, director of pharmacy services at Toronto-based Meds Via Canada, said he hasn't had any trouble obtaining drugs. He said the company fills about 3,000 prescriptions a day, and could go up to at least 10,000.

Yet Kula says it is difficult to say how many cities or states he could service. Hicks and Kula also fear that drug companies will take more drastic measures to cut supply, jeopardizing Canadian clients.

"I don't want to cause a drug shortage," Hicks said.

If the drug companies cut off Canada, the government could break patents and allow generic production, Kula said. But he's not sure either the companies or Canada wants to reach that point.

It is unclear that it will.

"It is still a cottage industry," said Jill Floode, assistant for health policy to Delaware's budget director. "I think the companies are going to have to decide whether they want to make it take hold."

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