Washington, DC – The Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation today commented on President Joe Biden’s July 9, executive order promoting economic competition, which included instructions for his administration to take action on policies to lower drug prices and to advance the importation of drugs from Canada.
“We applaud President Biden’s executive order geared at expanding American access to safe and affordable prescription drugs from Canada,” said Jack Pfeiffer, Executive Director of the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation. “However, the key to ensuring American patients gain access to real savings, rather than adding bureaucratic layers and costly middlemen, will be to advance personal prescription importation over wholesale or state importation programs.”
Millions of Americans have found price savings from Canadian for personal importation of drugs since the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003. However full legislative and regulatory support for prescription importation in the United States has remained evasive. American patients turning to prescription importation from licensed Canadian online pharmacies find savings of 50% to 90% compared to even coupon prices at America’s leading pharmacy competitors.
The July 9 executive order directed that the Food and Drug Administration commissioner work with states to develop a drug importation program allowing prescription medications to be sent in from other countries, particularly Canada. Advancing personal prescription importation over state/wholesale importation plans would save taxpayers money and ensure patients receive the full savings benefits of imported medications. Only six states, Colorado, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Vermont, have adopted prescription importation legislation. Only two states, Florida and Vermont, have submitted state/wholesale importation plans to the FDA. Canadian regulatory restrictions, as well as legal challenges, remain obstacles for state/wholesale importation pursuits.
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