Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1378

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

Silverman E.
Pfizer limits drug exports to Canada Wholesalers and pharmacies say other pharmas likely to use tactic
The Star-Ledger 2003 Aug 7

Full text:

Pfizer has become the latest drug maker to restrict shipments to Canada, in response to the growing number of Americans who buy discounted medicines there or from Internet sites. In a letter dated Aug. 4, Pfizer told Internet pharmacies based in Canada that, in order to track product sales, purchases can no longer be made through wholesalers. Industry sources who saw the letter said shipments will be cut off to Canadian pharmacies that sell to U.S. customers. “The objective of us having more customers as direct clients is for us to better enforce our terms of sale, which are that our products are only to be sold in Canada for Canadian patients and that they are not for export,” said Don Sancton, a spokesman for Pfizer Canada Inc. Pfizer’s drugs include the cholesterol-reducing medicine Lipitor and hypertension drug Norvasc. Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, joined three other drug makers that earlier this year took similar steps to thwart the flow of medicines from Canada. GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Wyeth either cut off some Canadian pharmacies or limited supplies to Canadian wholesalers. The drug makers hope to blunt a law pending in Congress that would allow U.S. consumers to re-import drugs from Canada and other countries at prices below what they cost in the United States. The House of Representatives has already passed such a bill. In the absence of a Medicare prescription-drug benefit, which Congress is also weighing, many seniors are traveling to Canada or ordering from Internet sites that offer lower-cost drugs from Canada. Prices are lower there because of government controls. The pharmaceutical industry isn’t alone in opposing reimportation. The Food and Drug Administration is also against the legislation because the agency says it cannot guarantee the safety of medicines. In some cases, the FDA says Internet sites claiming to be located in Canada sell drugs that have expired or originated elsewhere. Yesterday, some Canadian wholesalers and pharmacies predicted more companies would adopt these tactics, because supplies will be squeezed. “What’s going to happen is that pharmacies that were cut off by a drug maker will try to purchase supplies from other pharmacies, and that will drive prices up,” said Laurie Gauthier, who runs Prairie Supply Coop, a wholesaler based in Calgary. Restricting supplies is likely to anger seniors, who lack insurance coverage for increasingly expensive medicines. Last year, prices of the 50 most-prescribed drugs to seniors rose more than three times the inflation rate, according to Families USA, an advocacy group.