Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1379
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
Hensley S.
Pfizer Warning May Curb Drug Exports From Canada
The Wall Street Journal 2003 Aug 7
Full text:
Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug maker, is cracking down on Canadian pharmacies that sell cut-price medicines to Americans over the Internet. New York-based Pfizer has informed 46 pharmacies in Canada that they must now buy their medicines from the company instead of wholesalers. The action paves the way for Pfizer to directly enforce standard contract terms that bar its customers from exporting the medicines. “This will include, if necessary, cutting off supply to customers who do not respect our sales terms,” a spokesman said. The Pfizer letter comes as the issue of U.S. consumers’ access to cheaper drugs from other countries is under debate on Capitol Hill. Pharmaceutical companies have fought a House version of legislation — currently under consideration by congressional negotiators — that would give consumers access to cheaper drugs from 25 foreign countries. Thursday the issue is expected to draw a spotlight when the powerful AARP calls for the legalization of re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada to the U.S. at a rally in Chicago. The drug companies are “trying to make sure that American consumers stay a captive market, paying the highest prices in the world,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D., Ill.), one of the lawmakers organizing the event. Pfizer’s action follows similar moves by other drug makers to stanch the flow of prescription medicines from Canada to the U.S. Americans buying brand-name prescription drugs in Canada can sometimes save one-third to one-half, due to price controls and a favorable exchange rate. Pfizer makes some of the best-selling medicines in the world, including cholesterol-fighter Lipitor, impotence remedy Viagra and antidepressant Zoloft. In January, GlaxoSmithKline PLC asked pharmacies and wholesalers to certify they were adhering to contract terms prohibiting drug exports. Most but not all customers complied, a company spokeswoman said. Glaxo is limiting orders to historical levels plus an increase based on estimated market growth, she said. In April, AstraZeneca PLC took a similar tack and informed Canadian pharmacies and wholesalers that it would monitor order levels and allocate drugs based on past buying patterns. AstraZeneca, a spokeswoman said, had noticed an explosive rise in demand for some popular products, including heartburn remedy Nexium, by some Canadian customers. Pfizer has been monitoring the export of pills from Canada, a spokesman said, and singled out these pharmacies after concluding they were “conducting significant cross-border sales.” Pfizer couldn’t provide an estimate of the amount of its medicines being shipped to the U.S. but said it is “significant and growing,” though not financially material. A Pfizer spokesman said the company was taking this step to fight counterfeits in Canada and the U.S. and to ensure that residents of Canada have an adequate and continuing supply of Pfizer products. “The consumer obviously is the ultimate loser,” said Billy Shawn, president of Toronto-based TheCanadianDrugStore.com, which is supplied by a pharmacy in British Columbia that got the Pfizer letter. Despite the new restrictions by big drug makers, Canadian pharmacies often can obtain the drugs through other Canadian pharmacies that aren’t cut off, as well as from buying groups and other third parties. “A lot of middlemen are created,” said Andy Troszok, a pharmacist at crossborderpharmacy.com, the Web site of Total Care Pharmacy Corp. in Calgary, who serves as a vice president of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, and who received the Pfizer letter.
