Biden administration aims to stop Pharma from preventing drug importation

ABCNews.com reports on a Biden administration effort to ensure states can legally import drugs from abroad. You might have guessed that big Pharma is opposing drug importation by states. In this case, Pharma is trying to block Florida’s efforts to import drugs from Canada.

The Biden administration is trying to dismiss a Pharma lawsuit against state drug importation. The administration argues that Pharma has no basis for filing a lawsuit to block state importation of drugs as the Biden administration has not approved importation to date. Interestingly, for once, the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is on the same side as the Biden administration.

That said, DeSantis is quick to criticize the Food and Drug Administration for not approving state drug importation speedily. He’s a politician. And, he sees an opportunity to build political support around lower drug prices.

Only Florida and New Mexico are currently seeking permission from the White House to import drugs from Canada. They believe it will save them and their residents tens of millions of dollars a year.

Meanwhile, Pharma has only a couple of lame arguments against importation of drugs. Even though the US is able to import food safely and millions of Americans have already imported prescription drugs safely, it cries “safety” like the boy who cried “wolf.”  Of course, importation must be from verified pharmacies, but there are thousands of them around the globe.

Here’s more from Just Care:

• Let’s legalize drug importation and import drug prices
• Coronavirus: Americans travel abroad for medical care
• Millions safely import low-cost drugs from abroad
• Medicare Part D drug coverage in 2021
• Medicare mental health care cost and access issues