May 11, 2022
Dear Senate Leaders,
In spite of well-founded fears about the safety and effectiveness of allowing states to import prescription drugs from Canada, this misguided strategy is once again moving forward. Our organization, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE), believes importation is a deeply flawed and dangerous policy and respectfully asks you to oppose any legislation that would expose U.S. patients to the health risks associated with imported drugs.
CASE is the nation’s foremost non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to promoting consumer interests through the advancement of free-market principles. For several years we have been a vocal opponent of allowing the importation of pharmaceutical products from Canada.
The FDA is tasked with making sure U.S. medications are safe and effective, and they are the world’s premiere organization in this field. Drugs imported from Canada would not have to undergo FDA scrutiny, giving patients no assurance of either safety or effectiveness. FDA warnings regarding the safety hazards of imported drugs should be heeded, including their admonition to Canadian pharmacies for sending “unapproved” and “misbranded” drugs to American consumers.
Nearly 85% of Canadian drugs are imported from China or other less industrialized foreign nations, where as many as one in ten medicines are deemed to be counterfeit by the World Health Organization. Importing drugs from Canada could easily open up the U.S. pharmaceutical market to potentially dangerous, even deadly drugs, while simultaneously undermining the IP protections that safeguard patented U.S. medications.
Additionally, the consumer savings promised by supporters of importation simply do not exist. Additional costs to process, ship and inspect imported drugs would drive up prices, as would any markups the Canadian government might understandably apply to protect drug availability for Canadian patients. In 2005, the Congressional Budget Office determined that importation would only reduce drug spending by roughly 1%, hardly a justification for the health and safety risks it would create.
Further, Canada has itself repeatedly objected to U.S. importation proposals, fearing shortages and higher prices for their own citizens. An April of 2019 brief for Canadian officials made this point crystal clear: “Canada does not support actions that could adversely affect the supply of prescription drugs in Canada and potentially raise costs of prescription drugs for Canadians.” Canada will be more adversary than ally in the pharmaceutical market, further quashing the myth of importation as a panacea.
Importing pharmaceuticals from Canada or other countries is not the way to control prescription drug costs. Strategies such as this are merely “band-aid” schemes that ignore underlying problems in the health care system and delay much-needed reforms that could give consumers lasting benefits, such as reforming the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) system.
No HHS Secretary has ever been able to certify that importation would pose no risks to health and safety or generate significant cost savings for American consumers. Importation remains a largely political gimmick that is both dangerous and devoid of patient benefits. It is an idea to be avoided at all costs. CASE urges you to take a leadership position in the Senate against drug importation.
Sincerely,
Gerard Scimeca, Chairman
Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
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Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
211 N. Union Street, Suite 100
Alexandria, VA 22314
@CASE_forAmerica
