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Tag: Import

  • FDA allows Florida to import lower-cost drugs from Canada

    FDA allows Florida to import lower-cost drugs from Canada

    Finally, in some part thanks to former President Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis, as well as to the Biden Administration’s Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the US plans to open its borders to drug importation, reports Christina Jewett and Cheryl Gay Stolberg for the New York Times. While that is not a long-term fix to unconscionably high drug prices in the US, it is a terrific first step–unless the pharmaceutical industry succeeds at blocking these drug imports.

    To be clear, the FDA only has approved drug importation from Canada. And, as of now, only the state of Florida has approval. But, it is the camel’s nose under the tent and could save Florida as much as $150 million in drug costs in its first year.

    Interestingly, while the Biden Administration supports drug importation, it took a lawsuit by the state of Florida against the FDA to get the the needed federal approval.

    Americans already can buy drugs legally directly from Canadian pharmacies for personal use, but insurers are not required to cover those drugs. They still don’t. But Florida has approval to buy drugs for enrollees in its Medicaid program, people using its health clinics, and people in prison.

    It’s also not clear whether drug importation from Canada will work better for states in theory than in practice. Canada might not have enough supply to provide the drugs Florida needs, let alone the drugs other states will also want to purchase once they have FDA approval.

    You can bet your bottom dollar that Pharma is pulling out all stops to keep drug importation from happening. It plans to bring a lawsuit to prevent Florida from importing drugs from Canada. Moreover, some Canadian drug wholesalers have signed contracts with pharmaceutical companies agreeing not to export their drugs. In addition, Canada does not have a bottomless supply of drugs.

    Time will tell how this story unfolds. Drug importation from Canada was a long time coming. The New York Times reports that Congress passed legislation allowing drug importation 20 years ago, but it is only now that the administration is implementing it. Allegedly, there were “safety” concerns. More likely, there were concerns about PhRMA’s wrath.

    To be clear, patient safety concerns abound in the US because people cannot afford the drugs they need. Too often, they die as a result. And, even more often, they become sick or disabled because they cannot afford to fill their prescriptions.

    There are no reports of people harmed from importing drugs from abroad. Nine million Americans import drugs from abroad every year without incident.

    Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin have passed laws to allow their states to import drugs and likely many more will do so. Canada should not be the only foreign provider. Many drugs taken in the US are manufactured in India, China and elsewhere. Americans should be permitted to import drugs from verified pharmacies in any country.

    Americans support drug importation. Of course, we do. We import food safely from abroad, and automobiles, and electronics and more. There’s no good reason that we cannot import prescription drugs safely. And, anyone who supports competition should support drug importation, especially since drugs in the US often cost four times more than drugs in other developed countries.

    The big problem with drug prices in the US is that PhRMA can charge pretty much what it will for brand-name drugs. There’s little competition. PhRMA also can keep low-cost generic alternatives off the market for years.

    The Inflation Reduction Act allows our government to negotiate drug prices, which is arguably the best way to bring down drug prices in the US. But, it only allows drug price negotiation for 10 high-priced drugs in the first year, and only for people with Medicare. It’s good, but way less than what we need.

    And, while helpful, Medicare Part D drug plans can still cost you a bundle. If you want to keep your drug costs down, you need to compare your drug copays against the full cost of your drugs at Costco and other low-cost pharmacies. In some cases, you’ll pay less through Costco as this JustCare reader does.

    Before it can begin importing drugs from Canada, Florida must specify the drugs it will import to the FDA and explain how it will ensure they are not counterfeit. Florida also must relabel the drugs.

    Meanwhile, the Canadian government is none too happy about exporting drugs to Florida. The Canadian government could step in if it does not liking the consequences of drug exports. There is understandable worry that a country with fewer than 40 million people will find itself without needed drugs if it exports them to a state with 22 million people, let alone to multiple states with tens of millions more people.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Importing drugs from abroad should be legal

    Importing drugs from abroad should be legal

    In a new paper, Stephen Salant, a professor at the University of Michigan, makes a compelling case that people in the US should be able to import drugs from abroad and that it is safe to do so.

    Salant explains that people in the US spend much more than people in other wealthy countries for the identical brand-name drugs. Drug prices are lower in other wealthy countries because their governments negotiate with drug manufacturers. The lower prices abroad are still a lot higher than the cost of producing the drugs. And, drug manufacturers invest millions to sway Americans to believe that it’s unsafe to import drugs from abroad.

    We typically pay three and a half times more for a brand-name drug than people in other countries. Most other wealthy countries use price controls to keep prescription drug prices down. They either value a drug based on its cost-effectiveness. Or, they use reference pricing to bring drug prices down.

    Other countries still pay prices than can be as much as 100 times more than the cost of producing drugs. Western Europeans pay a minimum of $40,000 for a 12-week course of Sovaldi to treat hepatitis C. But, Sovaldi costs its manufacturer $68-$136 to produce that course of treatment.

    At the same time, Pharma relies on non-profit shill groups to argue that imported drugs could be counterfeit and unsafe and sway public opinion. Consumer protection is a pretext, an argument to keep drug prices high and generate enormous profits for drug companies. Pharma hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s firm to say that importing drugs would “open a new, unregulated pipeline into the United States.” But, at the time, 16 states simply were proposing to import drugs from highly regulated prescription drug markets abroad.

    People can already buy drugs from abroad when they travel abroad, as well as online. And, big retail outlets like Amazon and Costco theoretically could bulk purchase drugs from abroad safely and sell directly to people in the US. All the evidence suggests that these drugs are as safe as drugs people buy in the US.

    Here’s the truth: “The FDA has never reported a death or adverse reaction suffered by any patient in the U.S. who has personally filled his valid prescription online or in person from a pharmacy licensed in another high-income country.” The government has never prosecuted people in the US for importing drugs for personal use, even though it is illegal. But, the government does take action against companies that try to buy drugs abroad for resale in the US.

    “Asking sick people to finance drug innovation, which is of value not only at home but abroad, is ethically indefensible,” argues Salant. “The burden falls heaviest on sick Americans since our prices are by far the highest. People currently in good health should shoulder more of the burden. Increased subsidization, financed by general taxes at home and abroad is, in my view, a step in the right direction.”

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • FDA is confiscating some imported life-saving prescription drugs

    FDA is confiscating some imported life-saving prescription drugs

    NBC News reports on the Food and Drug Administration’s efforts to block importation of prescription drugs. The FDA is helping the pharmaceutical industry and harming Americans who can’t afford to buy the life-saving drugs they need in the US. Allegedly the FDA is trying to keep fentanyl and opioids from being shipped into the US. Really? The FDA found just 33 packages of these controlled substances out of 53,000 it intercepted in 2022.

    The quickest way to ensure drug prices in the US are fair and not two to four times higher than what people in other wealthy nations pay is to open our borders to drug imports from verified pharmacies abroad.  The pharmaceutical industry uses its considerable influence to prevent drug importation, claiming safety risks.

    There are always risks to importing prescription drugs from abroad, just as there are risks to importing food from abroad. But, on a risk benefit analysis, the danger of being harmed from a drug imported abroad–for which there are no reported cases–is far outweighed by the danger of preventing people from getting the drugs they need because they cannot afford them.

    If the FDA’s goal is keeping opioids from entering the US, its current strategy of seizing packages with drugs from abroad is misplaced. The data show that few opioids are in the shipments the FDA intercepts. Almost all of the drugs in these seized shipments were prescription drugs people had ordered from abroad for personal use. The FDA confiscated mostly drugs to treat asthma, diabetes, cancer and HIV, as well as a lot of drugs that treat erectile dysfunction.

    Still, the FDA continues its efforts, at a huge cost to the health and well-being to the Americans who need the drugs they import. The FDA has the right to confiscate drugs without US labeling or packaging.

    While it is technically not legal to import prescription drugs from abroad, millions of Americans do so every year. No one has ever been prosecuted for doing so.  What’s particularly interesting is that both Republican and Democratic governors in Florida, Colorado, New Hampshire and New Mexico want to allow drug importation.

    The Biden administration has not yet approved state applications to import drugs. It’s unclear why not. Pharma has tried through a lawsuit, and failed, to block this Trump administration initiative.

    Why is Congress giving the FDA $10 million to intercept controlled substances from abroad, when the vast majority of the drugs it intercepts are for personal use, to keep people alive? “The nation’s fentanyl import crisis should not be conflated with safe personal drug importation,” argues Gabe Levitt of PharmacyChecker.com. PharmacyChecker.com reports prices from verified pharmacies in dozens of countries for a wide range of drugs.

    In December, Congress told the FDA that it should focus on intercepting controlled and counterfeit drugs from abroad and drugs that pose “a significant threat to public health.” That alone is not likely to stop the FDA from confiscating drugs that Americans are importing to treat their cancer, asthma and heart drugs. As Koontz of the FDA said, “Importing drugs from abroad simply for cost savings is not a good enough reason to expose yourself to the additional risks,” he said. “The drug may be fine, but we don’t know, so we assume it is not.”

    The FDA claims, based on Pharma-supported congressional testimony, that imported drugs have an eight to ten percent chance of being counterfeit. It’s not at all clear this is accurate. And, based on the evidence, it is not at all accurate when it comes to drugs bought from verified pharmacies around the world. The  U.S. Customs and Border Protection data show that it found just 365 counterfeits out of  more than 30,000 drugs it inspected in 2022.

    So, is it safe to import drugs from verified pharmacies abroad? If you hear ads from the Partnership for Safe Medicines about the dangers of drug importation, ignore them. The Partnership for Safe Medicines is a pharmaceutical industry front group. The ads are paid for by Pharma, whose profits depend on keeping drug importation illegal.

    “We have never seen a rash of deaths or harm from prescription drugs that people bring across the border from verified pharmacies, because these are the same drugs that people buy in American pharmacies,” said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works. “The pharmaceutical industry is using the FDA to protect their price monopoly to keep their prices high.”

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Let’s legalize drug importation and import drug prices

    Let’s legalize drug importation and import drug prices

    In an opinion piece on addressing high prescription drug prices for The Hill, Gabriel Levitt and Steven Salant argue that Congress should allow drug imports from legitimate pharmacies around the world and cap drug prices at the lowest price paid by other wealthy countries.

    Today, all but 1.5 percent of Americans fill their prescriptions in the United States. Most people are worried about the safety of drugs imported. But, many of the same exact drugs sold in the US are available around the world; in the US, you pay 3.5 times more for them. Not surprisingly, three in ten Americans cannot afford to fill their prescriptions.

    A large majority of Americans of all political stripes–more than 75 percent–favor drug importation and Medicare drug price negotiation. The authors propose combining policies proposed by Republicans and Democrats to achieve lower drug prices.

    The authors explain why importing drugs from certified licensed pharmacies abroad is as safe as buying the drugs in the US. But, the pharmaceutical industry does a good job of scaring people from importing drugs. Consequently, only about 2.3 million Americans import drugs. And, while drug importation is not legal, the FDA has never prosecuted people who import drugs for personal use.

    In 2019, the House of Representatives passed HR3, which would have set Medicare prices for 350 drugs over 10 years at a price benchmarked to the average of what other wealthy countries pay, international reference pricing. The Senate did not entertain the bill, and it went nowhere. The bill was a good first step at regulating drug prices, but it covered fewer than five percent of drugs on the market, did not apply to people without insurance, and left it to insurers to decide whether they wanted to piggyback on Medicare rates.

    Levitt and Salant propose that Medicare link its drug prices to the lowest prices paid by other high-income countries. They also recommend that a Medicare reference pricing bill must specify that if the drug manufacturer does not agree to the reference price, either its drug cannot be included on the Medicare Part D formulary or the manufacturer loses its patent protection and other companies can manufacture the drug at the reference price.

    Savings from reference pricing could be used to fund more drug research. We should not be funding research from the exorbitant prices people who rely on drugs are now forced to pay.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

     

  • Several states plan to import drugs from Canada

    Several states plan to import drugs from Canada

    With drug prices in the US now substantially more than twice as much as in other countries, Donald Trump issued an executive order in his final days as president allowing states to import many drugs from Canada under certain conditions. Now, Phil Galewitz reports for Kaiser Health News that several states are planning to seek approval from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to get drugs at lower cost from our northern neighbor. Will the Biden administration provide approval?

    A new RAND report finds that in the 17 years between 2000 and 2017, drug prices in the US rose 76 percent. They are likely to continue to increase. Today, we pay on average more than two and a half times what other wealthy countries pay for brand-name and generic prescription drugs.

    Interestingly, we pay about 3.44 times more than other countries for brand-name drugs, but 84 percent of what other countries pay for generic drugs. We pay on average about 1.7 times what Mexicans pay for their brand-name drugs and 7.7 times what Turks pay for their brand-name drugs.

    During his presidential campaign, President Joe Biden supported the policy of drug importation from Canada as one way to help Americans afford their medications. Of course, Pharma opposes importation, claiming patient safety issues. But, its arguments around safety hold little weight. People have been importing drugs safely from Canada for years. Moreover, forcing people to go without needed medicines because they are unaffordable creates grave patient safety issues.

    Pharma has sued to stop the Trump policy from taking effect. The federal government must respond shortly. We will have a good sense of whether President Biden still supports importation from Canada, based on the federal government’s response to the lawsuit.

    Florida, Colorado, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine have decided to take importation into their own hands. Some are contracting with private businesses to deliver them drugs from abroad. Florida’s plan is to get lower-cost drugs for state programs, such as Medicaid. It thinks it could save as much as $150 million in year one.

    Colorado is looking to contract with a private company to obtain drugs from Canada for its residents that would be available at their local pharmacies. And, health insurers in Colorado would be able to make the drugs available on their formularies. Colorado policy experts believe that importing drugs from Canada would more than cut the price of many drugs in half for Colorado residents.

    For its part, the Canadian government seems willing to cooperate with the states. However, it will only cooperate when it has a healthy supply of a drug. While that could be an issue with generic drugs, it does not appear to be an issue with brand-name drugs. Trump’s executive order does not allow importation of insulin or injectables.

    The Secretary of HHS must approve a state’s importation policy and find it safe. President Biden’s HHS nominee, Xavier Becerra supported a law allowing importation from Canada as a member of the House of Representatives back in 2003. That was a while ago; it’s not clear how HHS will respond in 2021.

    Again, safety should not be an issue. Many drugs sold in the US are safely imported from abroad already.

    Importation is not a solution to out-of-control drug prices in the US. It will only help a small portion of the population. But, making it legal to import drugs should help reset the market price for drugs in this country. It should make it harder for Pharma to challenge regulation of drug prices to levels at which people can legally import them.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • What a new Congress should do to lower Rx prices

    What a new Congress should do to lower Rx prices

    Prescription drug prices keep rising. That’s to be expected since Congress has given pharmaceutical companies monopoly pricing power for their brand-name drugs, along with the ability to market them, even when they offer no benefits over lower cost drugs already on the market or, worse still, present safety risks. More than seven in ten Americans say the cost of drugs is unreasonable and that Congress is not doing enough to lower drug prices. Here’s what a new Congress should do to lower drug prices.

    First, Congress should make it legal for people to import drugs from abroad. A large majority of the public agree that safety is not an issue if the US allowed importation from Canada. In fact, safety should not be a reason not to allow importation from anywhere in the world for three reasons.

    1. The government easily could issue a list of verified pharmacies from around the world. Today, there are several web sites to turn to that offer information on drug prices from verified pharmacies around the world, including pharmacychecker.com.
    2. It is hard to make a compelling case that it is safer to ban drug imports and let people go without needed medicines they cannot afford than to allow people to import drugs for personal use. Moreover, we import food from abroad. Is there really a safety difference?
    3. Millions of people already safely import drugs from abroad. As more people import drugs, it becomes harder for pharmaceutical companies to set high prices for their drugs.

    To be clear, allowing drug importation is simply a band-aid since most people will not be able to afford imported drugs from abroad. Their health insurance won’t cover the cost of these drugs. But, once people are paying less for drugs from abroad, it makes it easier for Congress to enact a law regulating drug prices in the US at or near prices around the world and harder lift for Pharma to challenge the constitutionality of the law.

    Second, Congress should pass legislation that brings down costs for all drugs to a level similar to other wealthy countries and applies to everyone in the US. Eight-five percent of Americans support a policy like this, which would allow the government to negotiate drug prices for everyone. The majority of Republicans and Democrats believe that Congress needs to do a better job of regulating drug prices.

    Congress needs to go well beyond HR3, the House bill that would benchmark drug prices for a few hundred drugs to levels in other wealthy nations. HR3 does not cover more than 7,000 drugs on the market. It also does not benefit the uninsured.

    Third, Congress should penalize any drug company that refuses to negotiate a lower price for a drug. It should automatically terminate the patents on the drug and permit generic drug makers to manufacture and sell the drug, which would drive competition and bringing down prices. Congressman Lloyd Doggett proposes such a regulation.

    About one in four Americans find it hard to afford needed medicines. Six in ten Americans take one prescription drug and one in four take four or more. Congress would help the majority of Americans through these reforms.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • What would a President Biden do about drug prices?

    What would a President Biden do about drug prices?

    The latest news is that the pharmaceutical industry is targeting its 2020 campaign contributions at Vice President Biden, rather than President Trump. Kaiser Health News reports a reversal in Pharma’s standard way of operating. The prescription drug companies want to make sure that a Biden presidency would not mean government regulation of drug prices. What would a President Biden do about drug prices?

    The US House of Representatives has passed HR3, which would lower drug prices for scores of the most popular drugs to levels near those paid in other wealthy countries over the next ten years. Pharma would have to negotiate with the Department of Health and Human Services regarding prices for these drugs. Everyone in the country would benefit. But, the Senate has not considered it.

    Vice-President Biden says he plans to eliminate the barrier that prevents Medicare from using its leverage to negotiate drug prices. While Biden recognizes that everyone in the US needs lower drug prices, his campaign web site does not say that everyone in the nation will benefit from these prices, nor is it clear that these prices will be significantly lower, since he does not say that they will be benchmarked to prices paid in other countries.

    Biden proposes establishing a new arm of the US Department of Health and Human Services to assess the value of new specialty drugs. This agency would establish a fair price for these drugs. They would base the price on international pricing, if the drug is already available in other countries. Vice President Biden also proposes allowing private health insurers in the state exchanges, and the individual market writ large, to benefit from the prescription drug prices established at HHS.

    In addition, the Vice President would impose a limit on the amount pharmaceutical companies can increase the price of their brand-name and biotech drugs to the rate of inflation. This limit would also apply to “abusively priced” generics. The Vice President does not define abusively priced.

    And, the Vice President would allow drug importation from other countries where drugs are determined to be safe. PharmacyChecker’s website lists drug prices from verified pharmacies in other countries. While this proposal would not help as many people as need affordable drugs, it forces Pharma to recognize that the international market will drive down drug prices in this country. Better still would be if private health insurers were required to reimburse members for drugs they purchase abroad.

    Finally, Biden proposes improving the supply of generic drugs and eliminating the tax deductions pharmaceutical companies traditionally receive on their advertising spending.

    It’s no wonder that Pharma and its allies in the health products industry have given Biden’s campaign more than $5.9 million, according to Open Secrets. Kaiser Health News reports that the Biden campaign has received three times more in campaign contributions from Pharma and its allies than President Trump. If Biden becomes President, the drug companies will need his ear to keep him and Congress from turning his drug pricing proposals into law.

    Still, Pharma is targeting the majority of its Congressional campaign contributions to Republicans. Its how it tries to ensure that Republicans in Congress stand behind the drug companies’ right to charge excessive prices.

    It’s too early to know whether Biden, if elected, would prioritize lowering prescription drug prices. He should. Drug prices remain one of the top issues among voters. Nine in ten voters say this issue is “very important” or “somewhat important.”

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • President Trump blows drug deal with Pharma

    President Trump blows drug deal with Pharma

    In the past couple of months, President Trump has issued four executive orders, which he claims could lead to lower prescription drug costs. The proof is in the pudding, and there is none. Now, after blowing a deal with the pharmaceutical industry that would have put $150 billion in drug costs back in people’s pockets, President Trump is saying he wants to make drug importation from Canada legal in some instances. He is not likely to succeed at that either.

    President Trump appears to believe that lowering drug costs could gain him reelection support, particularly from older adults whose support he has been losing. He recently spent a bunch of time negotiating for lower out-of-pocket drug costs with the pharmaceutical industry, including Medicare Part D copays, Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman report for The New York Times. But, to garner additional political support for his reelection, he told the pharmaceutical industry that he also wanted companies to provide everyone in the US with a $100 drug discount card, a “Trump card,” before election day. And, with that, the whole deal imploded.

    The pharmaceutical industry would not agree to this political maneuver in the weeks before the election. And, Pharma argued $100 in savings would be of little help to people. So, instead, Trump released an executive order, which would test the benefits of having Medicare Parts B and D pay the average prices other wealthy countries pay for prescription drugs. That order has little chance of implementation.

    Perhaps because President Trump wants to be known for having done something effective to lower drug prices and perhaps because he wants to do his state allies a favor, he is now talking about allowing states to import some prescription drugs from Canada, reports Phil Galewitz for Kaiser Health News. So far, six states are hoping to get the federal government to allow them to import Canadian drugs, Colorado, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Vermont. President Trump and Governor DeSantis of Florida are close allies, and this is something DeSantis wants; among other things, it would save the state $150 million a year.

    The Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) is currently reviewing the Food and Drug Administration’s final plan. The plan addresses the drugs that could be imported and the ways in which states would oversee drug importation. It does not allow importation of injectable and biologic medicines.

    The plan might be so restrictive that it makes importation impossible. Even if OMB approves it, states might not be able to act on it. The pharmaceutical industry will challenge the plan in court, claiming it violates federal legislation and the US Constitution.

    The Canadian government, for its part, is none too happy about this plan and is not going to support it. It fears that it could keep Canadians from getting needed medicines. There are not enough medicines available in Canada to satisfy the need in both the US and Canada.

    So, the plan is dead on arrival. States would need to partner with the Canadian government if they wanted to import drugs from Canada.

    Americans who want less expensive drugs can import them for personal use, as millions do today. While it is illegal to import them, the federal government has never prosecuted anyone for importing prescription drugs for personal use. Indeed, retail stores in Florida are in business to help Floridians import drugs from Canada.

    For reasons beyond comprehension, neither the George W. Bush administration nor the Obama administration were willing to allow drug importation from Canada. They say they worry about “safety” issues when it comes to prescription drugs. It’s a strange claim given that they don’t worry about food importation safety issues and there are verified pharmacies around the world. Moreover, there is nothing safe about forcing people to forgo needed drugs they cannot afford because prices in the US are so high.

    Canada’s drug prices are considerably lower than prices in the US, though other wealthy countries have lower prices overall. Even still, through importation, estimates are that cancer drug prices would be cut in half and heart drugs would be a quarter of what they are today.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • FDA seizing some prescription drugs imported from Canada

    FDA seizing some prescription drugs imported from Canada

    Phil Galewitz reports for Kaiser Health News that the FDA recently has been seizing some drugs that Americans are importing from Canada and other countries. Given that stay-at-home orders during this pandemic make it difficult for people to get their prescription drugs from local pharmacies, it’s hard to understand what’s motivating the FDA at this time. FDA actions are particularly harming older people, who take more prescriptions than younger people and are most at risk if they get COVID-19.

    Kaiser Health News has previously reported that around nineteen million Americans import their prescription drugs from abroad. Right now, the numbers could be way up. Buying prescription drugs from abroad can save people a lot of money. And, it keeps them from having to leave their homes, which puts them at risk of getting COVID-19.

    Last month, the FDA seized one 83-year old man’s asthma drug. The FDA claimed it was not correctly labeled. The man had been getting it from Canadian MedStore at a 35 percent discount from what he would pay if he bought it at his local pharmacy. He saves hundreds of dollars a year this way.

    The FDA letter explaining the seizure of this drug also said that it had not been approved for sale or use in the US because it is a “foreign-made” drug. However, the drug’s packaging is identical to the packaging of the drug sold in the US. And, it is common for drugs sold in the US to be manufactured outside the US.

    Right now, PharmacyChecker.com verifies the legitimacy of pharmacies outside the US. Keep in mind that importing drugs for personal use is generally illegal, although the FDA typically does not stop such importation.

    Moreover, for more than 15 years now, the FDA for the most part has allowed retail stores in Florida to help people buy drugs from Canada and other countries. Recently, countries that export drugs to the US for people’s personal use have switched from selling a 90-day supply to a 30-day supply.

    The smartest and fairest way to bring down drug prices quickly is for Congress to mandate that drug corporations cannot charge Americans more for prescription drugs than the average price charged in other wealthy countries. Senator Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna have a bill in Congress to that effect. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a limited version of a similar bill that has passed in the House of Representatives.

    If you believe Congress should rein in drug prices, please sign this petition.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Millions safely import low-cost drugs from abroad

    Millions safely import low-cost drugs from abroad

    In 2017, Kaiser Health News reported that 19 million Americans import their prescription drugs from abroad. They can fill their prescriptions and save a lot of money. But, the pharmaceutical industry and its allies continue to perpetuate the myth that drug importation is unsafe. In fact, all the evidence suggests that if you use a verified pharmacy, you can safely import low-cost drugs from abroad.

    Today, Americans pay twice as much as our peers in Japan and Europe for the same exact drugs. There is no good reason that we pay more. Congress simply has not been willing to regulate drug prices in the US, while governments in other wealthy countries have. But, public pressure is mounting, and there is now a bill in Congress introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Ro Khanna that would ensure we paid no more for our drugs than people in other wealthy countries.

    Senator Sanders’ Medicare for All bill, which is receiving a lot of attention these days, would also drive down the price of prescription drugs, along with all health care costs. Other bills proposed to fix our dysfunctional health care system, most of which offer Medicare as a health insurance option for individuals, are not designed to bring down drug prices.

    Since it will be a while before Congress regulates drug prices–we likely will need a Democratic Senate, House, and President–the safety of imported drugs has been top of mind for many people. Drug prices in the US are unaffordable for millions of Americans. The pharmaceutical industry wants you to believe you must get your drugs in the US. And, the federal government helps the pharmaceutical industry by making it a crime to import drugs–though it has never prosecuted anyone for importing drugs for personal use.

    Today, some 45 million Americans do not fill their prescriptions because of the cost. Some suffer quietly. Some die. Why do our representatives in Congress continue to make it illegal to import prescription drugs, when they allow imported food and other products, and people’s health and lives hang in the balance? They are not representing their constituents but rather the pharmaceutical industry.

    Wendell Potter reports for Tarbell that Pharma hires “experts” to promote the myth that it is unsafe to import drugs from abroad. Pharma has also used ad campaigns and supported a novel, The Karasik Conspiracy, to mislead the public about the safety of imported drugs.

    People can buy drugs safely from abroad. PharmacyChecker.com verifies pharmacies around the world from which it is safe to buy drugs. No one has died from buying drugs from a verified pharmacy abroad with a valid prescription.

    If you want Congress to rein in drug prices, please sign this petition.

    Here’s more from Just Care: