States challenge Biden to lower drug prices by allowing imports from Canada

I'm sure there are many other topics some will find more interesting or important, but this one stick in my craw a bit. We routinely have to juggle prescriptions in our households to find which pharmacy will offer the lowest prices. Not talking about saving pennies here, it's legitimate bucks when you have a household of 3 people and all 3 have meds that are "supposed" to take forever, it adds up quickly.

Mentioned this in a thread 2 years ago if not more about Truliticy and it was $750 a month, searching around I got 3 months' worth for 10 times less but you had to search around and ask questions. It's a big-time hassle and you could only do this once with this pharmacy, but obviously big Pharma knows enough people will accept the price because it goes on thier damn insurance. My sister was on the exact same prescription as my Mom I got Mom's for 79 dollars my sister paid $349 same milligrams for 30 days

So why can't they give some of us Boomers a tad bit of relief?

www.cbsnews.com...

The Biden administration is facing mounting pressure from states to let them import medicine from Canada to help lower prescription drug costs.

Colorado on Dec. 5 became at least the fourth state to seek federal permission to use the strategy, following Florida, New Hampshire, and New Mexico. President Biden has endorsed the approach, but his administration has yet to greenlight a state plan.

Stall tactics?
Americans pay among the highest prices in the world for brand-name pharmaceuticals. Drugs are generally less expensive in neighboring Canada, where the government controls prices.

Under former President Donald Trump, the U.S. government declared that importing drugs from Canada could be done safely — satisfying a condition spelled out in a 2003 federal drug importation law. The Trump administration finalized rules in September 2020 for states to apply.

During his campaign for the White House, Mr. Biden said he would allow consumers to import prescription drugs from other countries if the federal government certified those drugs as safe.

After Mr. Biden took office in 2021, he ordered the FDA to work with states to import prescription drugs from Canada. In a speech last year about how he was going to reduce drug prices, he cited estimates by Colorado about how much money people in the state could save through importation.

Despite the administration's public show of support, early applicants have been frustrated by the FDA's inaction.

In August, almost two years after submitting its drug proposal, Florida sued the federal government, accusing the Biden administration of slow-walking its review. The federal government denied the accusation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential contender for 2024, has championed the state's effort.

In November, about three months after Florida sued, the FDA sent Florida a 15-page letter asking it to fill dozens of gaps in its plan. The letter asked whether the state wanted to withdraw its application and submit another.

In a December court filing, Florida said "suddenly conjuring so many supposed defects" in its proposal was another "stall tactic" by the government.

New Hampshire Health and Human Services Department spokesperson Jake Leon said New Hampshire's proposal was rejected because it did not identify a Canadian wholesaler that would provide the drugs. He said the FDA told the state it could reapply when it found one.

The Colorado Business Group on Health, which includes large employers, strongly favors importation but realizes the Biden administration is under pressure from groups that profit from the status quo, said Robert Smith, the coalition's executive director. He called concerns about patient safety a "red herring."

"The one thing we know about health care is that it is driven by economic self-interests," he said.

a reply to: putnam6

Previous to our new normal, folks from the northern states would drive to Canada to get their meds and the southern states (aka snow birds) to Mexico for the exact same product but much more affordable.

Back in 2005 I was out of work and temping for bc/bs when they rolled out Medicare Part D, the prescription drug plan, and talked with the lovely people from the Northern Plain states. The lockdown preventing them from crossing the border for more affordable prescriptions must be another big impact for people in the US.

a reply to: putnam6

I've been wondering this myself for a while now. I'm asthmatic, and it is around $70 for an inhaler without insurance here, yet when I went overseas, it was over the counter and $12. I stocked up on about a dozen of them at the time. If this were the norm here, it would make things significantly easier for everyone. However, I don't see it happening; someone has to foot the R&D bill for the pharma corps; we're, unfortunately, the country that has to bear that burden.

originally posted by: Hypntick
a reply to: putnam6

I've been wondering this myself for a while now. I'm asthmatic, and it is around $70 for an inhaler without insurance here, yet when I went overseas, it was over the counter and $12. I stocked up on about a dozen of them at the time. If this were the norm here, it would make things significantly easier for everyone. However, I don't see it happening; someone has to foot the R&D bill for the pharma corps; we're, unfortunately, the country that has to bear that burden.

Yea respectively screw that, funny we found more than enough to challenge Russia's Special Military Operation, but we can't find enough to help the generations that paid so much Social Security over the decades to get affordable prescriptions?

Besides the Big Pharma research and development money, where does that go? till the last couple of years, it was going to Viagra, Cialis, Rogaine, Propecia, and more regrettably Fentanyl and all the Opioids that have flooded the market creating 60 to 70-year-old drug addicts.

all of this while Big Pharma just made billions on COVID free and clear and with no threat of lawsuits etc. but they have no monies for research and development

Why don't they do like a small business does when it has an idea for expanding its business they have to go get loans or put thier business in hock and gamble their "idea" worked out. All the while we have Big Pharma research and development on products listed in this article that is now over six years old. I suggest reading it and if even half of this is true, you might rethink your opinion.

Don't get me wrong I believe Big Pharma ought to be able to function in a capitalistic system, but our government should make sure Big Pharma makes enough supplies of essential and life-saving drugs to those less fortunate. Just call it our Strategic Pharmaceutical supply, Because it's difficult here but I really don't know how the less fortunate than us do this.

www.alternet.org...

Most of Pharma’s drugs aren't even life-saving—a lot more thyroid, cholesterol, ADHD and acid reflux drugs are sold than cancer drugs, their demand whipped up by direct-to-consumer drug ads. (Some widely marketed drugs like statins and acid reflux meds have life-threatening side effects of their own.) PhRMA’s “Hope to Cures” campaign even claims high-priced meds help the economy by creating jobs, like for “sheet metal workers.” Right.

Parading sick patients in front of the FDA and state officials who decide drug reimbursements is how Pharma has gotten drugs that cost four, five and six digits approved, usually paid for by taxpayers. Co-opted patients (sometimes called Astroturf because they are not really grassroots) “appear before public and consumer panels, contact lawmakers, and provide media outlets a human face to attach to a cause,” writes Melissa Healy of the Los Angeles Times, “when insurers balk at reimbursing patients for new prescription medications.”

Nowhere in the PhRMA PR campaign are actual costs mentioned like the 12 cancer drugs that cost above $100,000 a year though many do not clearly even extend life. A year on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs can easily cost $60,000. Instead we hear about rare diseases and rare cancers that presumably would not be cured if lawmakers curtail Big Pharma profits.

originally posted by: putnam6


Mentioned this in a thread 2 years ago if not more about Truliticy and it was $750 a month, searching around I got 3 months' worth for 10 times less but you had to search around and ask questions. It's a big-time hassle and you could only do this once with this pharmacy, but obviously big Pharma knows enough people will accept the price because it goes on thier damn insurance. My sister was on the exact same prescription as my Mom I got Mom's for 79 dollars my sister paid $349 same milligrams for 30 days

So why can't they give some of us Boomers a tad bit of relief?

www.cbsnews.com...

The Biden administration is facing mounting pressure from states to let them import medicine from Canada to help lower prescription drug costs.

Colorado on Dec. 5 became at least the fourth state to seek federal permission to use the strategy, following Florida, New Hampshire, and New Mexico. President Biden has endorsed the approach, but his administration has yet to greenlight a state plan.

Stall tactics?
Americans pay among the highest prices in the world for brand-name pharmaceuticals. Drugs are generally less expensive in neighboring Canada, where the government controls prices.

Under former President Donald Trump, the U.S. government declared that importing drugs from Canada could be done safely — satisfying a condition spelled out in a 2003 federal drug importation law. The Trump administration finalized rules in September 2020 for states to apply.

During his campaign for the White House, Mr. Biden said he would allow consumers to import prescription drugs from other countries if the federal government certified those drugs as safe.

After Mr. Biden took office in 2021, he ordered the FDA to work with states to import prescription drugs from Canada. In a speech last year about how he was going to reduce drug prices, he cited estimates by Colorado about how much money people in the state could save through importation.

Despite the administration's public show of support, early applicants have been frustrated by the FDA's inaction.

In August, almost two years after submitting its drug proposal, Florida sued the federal government, accusing the Biden administration of slow-walking its review. The federal government denied the accusation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential contender for 2024, has championed the state's effort.

In November, about three months after Florida sued, the FDA sent Florida a 15-page letter asking it to fill dozens of gaps in its plan. The letter asked whether the state wanted to withdraw its application and submit another.

In a December court filing, Florida said "suddenly conjuring so many supposed defects" in its proposal was another "stall tactic" by the government.

New Hampshire Health and Human Services Department spokesperson Jake Leon said New Hampshire's proposal was rejected because it did not identify a Canadian wholesaler that would provide the drugs. He said the FDA told the state it could reapply when it found one.

The Colorado Business Group on Health, which includes large employers, strongly favors importation but realizes the Biden administration is under pressure from groups that profit from the status quo, said Robert Smith, the coalition's executive director. He called concerns about patient safety a "red herring."

"The one thing we know about health care is that it is driven by economic self-interests," he said.

Here in the USA we STILL pay more for medicines, medical procedures and medical insurance and we still can't 'afford' the care we need. It goes to show that all this help from the government:

HR3 passed House (12/12/2019) This bill establishes several programs and requirements relating to the prices of prescription drugs, health care coverage and costs, and public health. The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate prices for certain drugs.


The Inflation Reduction Act Lowers Health Care Costs Oct 5, 2022 — Through the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden is delivering on his promise to lower prescription drug costs.

Sweeping Health Measure, Backed by Obama, Passes Senatewww.nytimes.com... › U.S. › Politics
Dec 7, 2016 — The 21st Century Cures Act, already passed by the House, was backed by an unusual alliance of pharmaceutical companies and patients ...

is just a bunch of BS. And btw, Trump by EO already tried to do this but was blocked.

Trump has previously proposed most of the changes made by the executive orders he signed on Friday, but this is the first time they have made it into signed executive orders.

One order would allow for the legal importation of cheaper prescription drugs from countries like Canada, while another would require discounts from drug companies now captured by middlemen to be passed on to patients, Trump said.

Another measure seeks to lower insulin costs while a fourth, which may not be implemented if talks with drug companies are successful, would require Medicare to purchase drugs at the same price that other countries pay, Trump said.

Executives of top drug companies have requested a meeting to discuss how they can lower drug prices, the president said.

“We will see what those discussions indicate but the agency is prepared to move forward,” said Medicare chief Seema Verma.

The orders received swift pushback from the pharmaceutical industry. The move was “a reckless distraction that impedes our ability to respond to the current pandemic – and those we could face in the future,” Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in a statement.

www.reuters.com...

It's ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you want to know why we pay more?

It's pretty simple. The UK, Canada and other countries set the prices for drugs. The US doesn't. The drug manufacturers make little profit or take a loss in those countries knowing that they can make it up in the US.
The other issue is the liability in the US. Just look at Oxycodone. Used as prescribed it's fine, yet it is miss-used and the lawsuits fly.

originally posted by: JIMC5499
Do you want to know why we pay more?

It's pretty simple. The UK, Canada and other countries set the prices for drugs. The US doesn't. The drug manufacturers make little profit or take a loss in those countries knowing that they can make it up in the US.
The other issue is the liability in the US. Just look at Oxycodone. Used as prescribed it's fine, yet it is miss-used and the lawsuits fly.

So America has to take up the kazoo because we can collectively afford it?

I'm not sure I'd say Oxycodone even when used as prescribed is fine, been on enough meds from doctors over the years and it's easy as hell to get addicted

You have to have a competent doctor that listens to or knows their patient or it can easily become addictive.

Fentanyl needs to be banned completely, it's only legitimate use can be partially taken care of by other methods without all the dangers. I normally don't think we should ban any pharmaceuticals.

As far as the lawsuits well respectfully sure some are overblown BS, but quite a few have legit reasons. The recent stuff on Nexium, Prilosec, etc, taking it as prescribed was likely fatal for thousands.

but I digress and will disengage I'm admittedly too close to the subject we lost our Dad to a long fight with pancreatic cancer with him eventually dying of a heart attack, and he easily took Nexium, Prilosec, and Prevacid as long as they were available either over the counter or prescribed.

FWIW only 9 of the top 20 Pharmaceuticals Companies in 2020 revenue were American-owned, how did the other 11 do so well?

www.fiercepharma.com...

as well as this which backs up your claim, why these companies could only afford to give thier CEOs 20 million plus a year in salaries, I really don't how these companies are surviving

www.fiercepharma.com...

www.fiercepharma.com...