Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1369

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Taber J.
Canada's drug policies 'parasitic,' U.S. says: Interview with FDA head sparks debate on issue of reliance on American research
2003 Jul 31

Full text:

OTTAWA — The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is accusing Canada of being “parasitic” in its drug policies that he believes keep drug prices lower here than in the United States.

Mark McClellan agreed with suggestions by a television interviewer that Canada has not developed a new drug since 1940, does no research and development on new drugs, and is simply benefiting from drug research paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

“That’s right. The United States is definitely far and away the world leader in medical innovation,” Dr. McClellan said in reply to questions and suggestions by PBS television broadcaster John McLaughlin.

Mr. McLaughlin’s program, One on One, was broadcast last weekend. In it, he made a number of accusations about Canadian government drug policy to which Dr. McClellan agreed.

“Do you think — without causing an international crisis here — that Canada’s behaviour is parasitic?” Mr. McLaughlin asked.

“They’re parasitic because they’re living off the research we do, and that research is paid for by the taxpayer who has to pay the prices for it through the price of prescription drugs . . . “

“That’s right,” Dr. McClellan said.

They’re wrong, Canadian officials say.

“The first order of business is get the facts straight, because there is so much rhetoric right now,” said Industry Canada’s Kathryn Howard.

She and Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, which manufacture brand-name drugs, noted that several new drugs have been developed in Canada as recently as the late 1980s and 1990s, including a drug to treat AIDS and one for asthma.

As well, Industry Canada statistics show that the average price of Canadian drugs is actually 1 per cent higher than prices for the same drugs in seven different countries, including the U.S.

The other countries surveyed were France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

“It tells us we are not out of whack,” Ms. Howard said.

The campaign by some to attack Canada seems to have been sparked by the trading of drugs to the United States over the Internet, and a debate there over high drug prices.

However, Ms. Howard says Internet sales from Canada account for less than 1 per cent of the $293-billion U.S. drug market.

The idea that Canada is parasitic is simply wrong, says Jeff Connell of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association.

“That is absolutely false, absolutely, positively false,” he said.

He said the controversy is caused by Americans looking across the border and seeing their drugs being sold back to them at lower prices.

“What that [the activity of Internet pharmacies] does is threaten the brands’ most lucrative customers, which is of course the United States,” he said.

“That is the biggest market for drugs. It’s also got the highest prices. So that’s what this is all about.”

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation to legalize importation of drugs from Canada and Europe, which is causing much controversy.

The week before his interview with the head of the FDA, Mr. McLaughlin interviewed the chief executive officer of Pfizer, Henry McKinnell.

Again, the interview concerned the importing of prescription drugs from Canada.

“Why are drugs cheaper in Canada than they are in the United States?” Mr. McLaughlin asked.

Dr. McKinnell said: “. . .the Canadian government sets prices for patented products from the research-based industry, mostly American, at a very low level.

Dr. McKinnell also suggested that terrorist organizations operating in Canada may be financing themselves through the illegal export of drugs.