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HHS Announces Dangerous Draft Regulations for Importing Drugs from Canada
Partnership for Safe Medicines Statement on Proposed Regulations to Import Prescription Medicines from Canada Washington, D.C. (December 18, 2019) – Shabbir Safdar, executive director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement in response to today’s announcement by the Trump Administration and the proposed regulations to allow importation of prescription medicines: “Citizens of…
[...]PSM’s Executive Director Speaks on Morning Wakeup with Dave Akerly to Warn Michigan Residents about the Dangers of Drug Importation
PSM’s Executive Director Shabbir Safdar spoke with Dave Akerly on WILS in Lansing, Michigan about the importation proposal currently being debated in the Michigan House of Representatives. Safdar was enroute to the Michigan State House to participate in hearings on drug importation being held there. Here why our Executive Director has travelled to Michigan to testify at their drug importation hearing.
[...]How do you test whether a medication is legitimate?
Testing medicine for legitimacy is a complicated process. Across 24 different prescription medicines, the average cost to test a single dose is $2,750. However, ensuring that a batch of 100 pills is safe requires testing at least 22 pills. To learn more about this topic, read PSM’s summary: safedr.ug/Acri-Explained.
[...]Bloomberg Misses The Mark In Its Article About Drug Importation Advocacy
In case you missed it, Bloomberg’s Ben Elgin has published an “in-depth” piece on the connection between PhRMA and the Partnership for Safe Medicines. However, this has been public and widely reported on for years. More concerningly, the story misses the broader point about the clear safety concerns of foreign drug importation. Over the past…
[...]PSM, Partners Host Fall 2019 Congressional Briefings About Counterfeit Drug Dangers
On September 24, 2019, the Partnership for Safe Medicines and 19 partner organizations held two congressional briefings about the real dangers counterfeit drugs pose to Americans, offering a clear picture of why importation cannot solve the problem of high drug prices in the U.S.:
Canada does not have enough prescription drugs to share with U.S.patients, and organized crime is poised to expand the counterfeit drug trade into the U.S. to bridge the gap without regard for the health and safety of U.S. residents. “The money to be made is far too great to worry about human life.”
[...]Myth: We are getting the same drugs Canadians take
In 2014, during a two-year period when Maine was experimenting with drug importation, the president of Maine’s Pharmacy Association purchased medications from an online pharmacy for testing. The drugs he received were not approved for the Canadian or U.S. markets. Worse, they were poor quality: two of them were the wrong strength, and the other was contaminated.
[...]Two Studies Confirm Drug Importation Would Decimate The Canadian Drug Supply
Two new studies recently published in Canadian Health Policy each reached the same conclusion: legalizing drug importation in the U.S. would cause catastrophic damage to the Canadian drug supply…
[...]Partnership for Safe Medicines 2019 Congressional Briefings (September 24, 2019)
On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, counterfeit medication victims and their families, American and Canadian patient groups, local and federal law enforcement, and other experts in the fight against counterfeit medicines gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss how importation proposals threaten to trigger drug shortages in Canada while wreaking havoc on medication safety for U.S. patients.
[...]Shepherd M (2019) New pathways for U.S. importation threaten Canadian prescription drug supply. Canadian Health Policy Journal,
This research paper is an update to The Effect Of U.S. Pharmaceutical Drug Importation On The Canadian Pharmaceutical Supply, published in 2010.
[...]Drug Importation By the Numbers
When broken down to the nuts and bolts of implementation and operational execution, current drug importation plans fall apart. Drug Importation is neither a safe nor cost-effective solution. The numbers do not lie.
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