Illinois to import prescription drugs via Web

By DON BABWIN
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Other states, including Minnesota and Wisconsin, have Web sites to help residents buy drugs from Canada, but Illinois is the first to tap into pharmacies in Europe.

Blagojevich has been a leading figure in the push to allow the purchase of prescription drugs from outside the United States. Prescription-drug imports are banned by the federal government, but Blagojevich and others think they should be allowed at a time of skyrocketing prices for medicine in the United States.

"We have taken every possible step we could think of to convince the FDA, and convince the Congress, and anyone and everyone who will listen, that people across Illinois, and across our country, deserve access to safe and lower-cost prescription drugs," Blagojevich said. "The federal government has failed to act. So it's time that we do."

Washington state buys prescription drugs in volume on behalf of low-income people covered by Medicaid or the Basic Health plan as well as workers' compensation patients. But the state does not have a program to help private individuals import drugs from across the border.

Prescription drugs are often cheaper in Canada and other countries because of government price controls. For instance, a three-month supply of Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug that costs $214 in the United States, can be bought for $144 in Ireland, $158 in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and $162 in Canada.

The Food and Drug Administration is against prescription-drug imports because it cannot guarantee the drugs' safety.

The governor said if all Illinois residents used the program, savings could reach $1.9 billion the first year.

U.S. officials earlier rejected an Illinois request to set up a pilot program to buy drugs from Canada. The governor's new plan would be an "aggressive expansion," and the drugs to which it would allow access would be illegal and unregulated by U.S. agencies, said William Hubbard of the FDA.

Illinois will not import the drugs itself, but it plans to contract with a Canadian company to connect consumers with foreign pharmacies that have been approved by state health inspectors.

Blagojevich said safeguards would be built in, including limiting the imports to only refills of already-approved prescriptions. Generic drugs, narcotics or drugs that can spoil during shipping would be excluded.
 
Eventually, the governor hopes to encourage state employees and retirees to use the system by offering to waive their insurance copay, spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said.

Seattle Times reporter Kyung M. Song contributed to this report.