The following is from MedPage Today.

The FDA on Friday approved a plan by the state of Florida to allow direct importation to the state of drugs from Canada, many of which are expected to be at a much lower cost than the same drugs procured in the U.S.

“The FDA may authorize … proposals from states or Indian tribes to import certain prescription drugs from Canada if the [proposal] will significantly reduce the cost to the American consumer without imposing additional risk to public health and safety,” the agency said in a statement. “Florida’s obligations under the FDA’s regulations will include, among other things: ensuring supply chain integrity, monitoring and submitting adverse event reports, complying with drug recall procedures and reporting quarterly to the FDA.”

The proposal, known as a Section 804 importation program, or SIP, “is authorized for 2 years from the date the FDA is notified of the first shipment of drugs to be imported,” according to the agency. 

Under Florida’s proposal, the state will start importing prescription drugs “in a small number of drug classes which will include maintenance medications to help individuals who have chronic health conditions such as HIV/AIDS, mental illness, prostate cancer, and urea cycle disorder,” according to a press release issued by the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

“These drugs will be for individuals who are under the care of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Children and Families, Department of Corrections, and Department of Health. The program will then expand to include providing imported prescription drugs for Medicaid members across the state.”

“After 3 long years of waiting for FDA approval, we are excited to finally have the opportunity to see this vision come to fruition and provide Floridians access to safe and affordable prescription drugs,” Jason Weida, secretary of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, said in the release. “As we move forward, we will continue to work every day to find ways to lower costs for Florida’s vulnerable populations.”

Getting an experiment like this one going is long overdue, according to independent drug industry analyst Marsha Simon, PhD. “It will finally provide a test of the concept after waiting since the Clinton administration,” she told MedPage Today in an email. 

Madelaine Feldman, MD, vice president for advocacy and government affairs at the Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations, also praised the move — provided the safety guardrails are effective — and noted that this type of direct importation of drugs gets rid of the pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) as “middlemen” between the drugmakers and patients.

“If Pharma is unhappy with this, then they should set up a direct sale without middlemen to the state at lower prices,” she continued, adding that drug companies on average give “well over 50%” concessions to PBMs and other middlemen. “They are probably afraid that the PBMs would drop them from their formularies …

Perhaps if enough states go around the middlemen and get the drugs from Canada, maybe Pharma will wake up and drop the middleman and allow states to procure the drugs directly from them,” especially for lower-income patients.

However, she added, the proposal “is predicated upon whether Canada will allow a large-scale sale of its drugs to any entity in the U.S., including the state of Florida. Canada does not seem particularly happy about allowing this to happen.” (Continued…)

Read more here.

The Lemonade Mermaid Store

Unique gifts for Land or Sea Mermaids, Mer-pets and Little Mermaids!

Left: Pastel Beach Necklace $16

SHOP NOW