WASHINGTON Americans' prescription business in Canada bothers drug executives

It is illegal for Americans to bring prescriptions from other countries.
By CRAIG LINDER
STATES NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Drug industry executives told House members Thursday the United States shouldn't allow Americans to get their prescriptions from pharmacies in Canada.
As prescription drug prices climb, Americans are looking north of the border, where Canadian law limits medicine prices.
But drug companies have become increasingly concerned about the number of Americans seeking the cheaper Canadian pharmaceuticals.
"Sending seniors across the border to get their prescription medicines is not the way to address concerns over cost and access here," GlaxoSmithKline executive Christopher Viehbacher told the House panel on wellness and human rights Thursday.
Chartered bus trips
Since it began in the 1990s, the U.S.-Canadian pharmaceutical trade has bloomed into a $1 billion-a-year business that now relies on chartered bus trips and Internet prescription brokers linking Americans to Canadian pharmacies that will ship medicines by mail.
Health insurance companies have even begun asking the Food and Drug Administration whether it would be legal for them to pay for prescription drugs imported from Canada.
It is illegal for Americans to bring prescription medicines into the United States from other countries.
Border agents rarely cite those with prescription medicines, but the FDA has begun to distribute pamphlets at the border warning that Canadian drugs may not be identical to those sold in the U.S.
Manufacturers have long cited safety concerns, saying few countries have regulations as strict as those in this country.
Health risks
Lawmakers who hope to see prescription drugs from Canada become legal warned that Americans could also be at risk if they cannot afford the drugs they need.
"There are millions of senior citizens who are suffering and sometimes dying because they cannot afford the astronomical cost of prescription drugs," said Rep. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who heads the Democratic prescription drug task force, dismissed safety concerns, calling them a smoke screen to protect U.S. industry profits.
Congress passed a law allowing pharmaceutical importation in 2000, but the Clinton and Bush administrations have refused to allow it to take effect, saying there is no way to ensure safety.
Stabenow said she and other lawmakers hope to add a provision allowing the importation of drugs from Canada to the prescription drug bill that the Senate will consider next week.
That proposal would allow U.S. pharmacies to buy Canadian drugs at wholesale prices and sell them to Americans at up to 50 percent lower than the cost of U.S.-made drugs.
Industry officials have asked the federal government to crack down on Internet sites that sell Canadian drugs in the United States. Some drug companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, have cut back sales to Canadian pharmacies that sell to Americans.
At the same time, the American drug industry's lobbying arm has launched a $1 million public relations campaign aimed at persuading Canadians to lift the price controls on prescriptions.