Ensuring patients have access to needed medicines is critical, but the importation of unapproved medicines, whether from Canada or elsewhere in the world, is the wrong answer.
The United States is the gold standard when it comes to regulating the safety of our medicine supply. Importing medicines from countries that do not have our same strong standards could taint our medicine supply. Without proper Food and Drug Administration oversight and enforcement of laws designed to protect patient safety—which importation schemes would undermine—there is increased potential for counterfeit or adulterated products to infiltrate the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain, with life-threatening consequences.
Importation schemes have been proposed at various times as an approach to reducing drug costs. However, these schemes fail to acknowledge that the resources required to ensure the safety and efficacy of any drugs being imported from or passing through other countries into the United States would outweigh any potential savings.
They also ignore that generics comprise more than 90 percent of the U.S. market today and are widely available lower-cost alternatives for patients. Not to mention, the exponentially higher risk of counterfeit, adulterated and substandard products entering the United States and harming patients would be playing Russian roulette with patients’ lives.
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Why Drug Importation is Bad for Patients
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The United States is the gold standard when it comes to regulating the safety of our medicine supply. Importing medicines from countries that do not have our same strong standards could taint our medicine supply. Without proper Food and Drug Administration oversight and enforcement of laws designed to protect patient safety—which importation schemes would undermine—there is increased potential for counterfeit or adulterated products to infiltrate the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain, with life-threatening consequences.
Importation schemes have been proposed at various times as an approach to reducing drug costs. However, these schemes fail to acknowledge that the resources required to ensure the safety and efficacy of any drugs being imported from or passing through other countries into the United States would outweigh any potential savings.
They also ignore that generics comprise more than 90 percent of the U.S. market today and are widely available lower-cost alternatives for patients. Not to mention, the exponentially higher risk of counterfeit, adulterated and substandard products entering the United States and harming patients would be playing Russian roulette with patients’ lives.
Learn more:
Why Drug Importation is Bad for Patients