Editorial: Look north for better drug prices

Monday, Dec. 29, 2003 | 9:31 a.m.

The victories in Washington keep piling up for the pharmaceutical industry. As the prescription drug bill was being drafted, high-paid industry lobbyists plied the halls of Congress until they had squelched any thought of the government gaining the right to negotiate for lower drug prices on behalf of its Medicare recipients. The drug industry obviously sees itself as a giant capable of dictating terms to its customers. It didn't want to have to contend with the only giant that the people could put up against it. The lobbyists also used their considerable influence to blot out all talk of the bill containing a provision that would have allowed drugs to be imported from Canada.

The Canadian government regulates the prices of prescription drugs, saving millions for its citizens. Lacking the same protection from their own government, many United States citizens want the legal right to buy their prescription drugs from Canada. The interest has spread to state governments, which realize they could also save millions by filling prescriptions for their workers and retirees, prison inmates, and Medicaid recipients through Canadian outlets. The latest governor to push for this right is Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. If Illinois could cover its state workers and retirees with prescription drugs bought from Canada, the Democratic governor calculated that the state would save $91 million a year.

All that his calculations brought, however, were another victory for the pharmaceutical industry. The Bush administration rejects the notion of American states or cities or individuals or companies buying any drugs from Canada. Peter Pitts, an associate commissioner with the Food and Drug Administration, told USA Today: "There's no way importing drugs not FDA-approved can be legal in any way or form." This is because the Bush administration has staked out the position that Canadian drug suppliers are untrustworthy.

We suspect that the Bush administration's true motivation has more to do with protecting the business interests of the pharmaceutical industry than with safeguarding the health of the American public. Millions of Canadians, after all, are filling their prescriptions at their local drug stores without getting sick. Our view is that setting up a system to safeguard drugs coming in from Canada would not be that difficult or expensive. If the government does not want to do this, it should then reverse its hands-off policy toward the drug industry and begin negotiating better prices -- regardless of how this might imperil campaign donations from big drug companies. For more than a decade the drug industry has been the most profitable segment of the American economy -- and the government's anti-consumer stance is one of the reasons why.