{"id":16299,"date":"2019-08-07T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/Life-Insurance-Blog\/canadian-pharma-industry-calls-for-early-action-on-us-import-plan\/"},"modified":"2019-08-07T07:00:01","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T11:00:01","slug":"canadian-pharma-industry-calls-for-early-action-on-us-import-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2019\/08\/07\/canadian-pharma-industry-calls-for-early-action-on-us-import-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian pharma industry calls for early action on US import plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC) is asking the government to respond immediately to US plans to import drugs from the country, warning that \u201creliance on reactive measures after shortages occur may pose a risk to Canadian patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported by Reuters, the industry group prepared its talking points for staff and member companies last month, before the Trump administration announced it would allow pilot programs by US states and other entities to import cheap drugs from Canada as a means to contain drug costs.<\/p>\n

In one early draft of its talking points prepared in May, IMC called for Canada to prohibit bulk exports of drugs by wholesalers in Canada, adding that \u201cthere should be strict and significant penalties\u201d for such activities particularly where they are \u201cprohibited by law.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a more recent statement, IMC said that an export ban \u201cis not part of our current positioning shared with our members,\u201d though it said the government \u201chas tools that could be used to prevent shortages.\u201d<\/p>\n

IMC\u2019s membership, Reuters noted, includes major drug companies based in the United States and abroad whose profits could be hit by large-scale shipments of cheap medication from Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government\u2019s priority is ensuring that all Canadians can get and afford the medications they need,\u201d Alexander Cohen, a spokesperson for the Canadian health minister, said in a statement. \u201cAll statements and decisions surrounding Canada\u2019s drug supply are made based in the best interest of Canadians, and we are examining all options to ensure it remains secure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing position papers prepared by IMC, Reuters said the industry group is concerned that drug manufacturers may be unable to enforce contract terms preventing Canadian buyers from re-exporting drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough purchasing agreements with suppliers may contain clauses that would prevent bulk export to the US, many Canadian pharmaceutical companies are subsidiaries of US corporations and may become obliged to do so through US legislation,\u201d the group said in July.<\/p>\n

But even if the US administration\u2019s plan comes to pass, consultations required to pass new regulations could mean that actual shipments won\u2019t reach the country for a year or more.<\/p>\n

As a \u201cfirst step,\u201d the IMC suggested that the Canadian government publicly declare its intention to protect drugs meant for Canadian patients in case of any shortages. According to Reuters, Prime Minister Trudeau made a statement along those lines at an event held Thursday in the Arctic city of Iqaluit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize the new situation brought on by American announcements, and Health Canada will continue to ensure that our priority is always ensuring that Canadians have access to the medication they need at affordable prices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read the original article at https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/rss\/ <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC) is asking the government to respond immediately to US plans to import drugs from the country, warning that \u201creliance on reactive measures after shortages occur may pose a risk to...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}