Board grants licenses to 7 Canadian pharmacies

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 | 9:43 a.m.

RENO -- After getting repeated assurances that consumers would be safe, the state Pharmacy Board on Wednesday took a long step forward toward allowing Nevadans to purchase cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

The board granted licenses to seven Canadian pharmacies, pending on-site inspections the week of Sept. 19.

Louis Ling, attorney for the board, said Nevada would be the first state to license the Canadian pharmacies. Peoples in some other states can purchase Canadian drugs, but that process comes through a contract between the state and the companies.

A number of safeguards have been built into the Nevada system, said Louis Ling, the Pharmacy Board's attorney.

"If they (the Canadian companies) comply, it's a safe system," he said.

Prescription drugs in Canada are anywhere from 25 to 40 percent cheaper than in the United States.

If these seven pharmacies pass the physical inspection, their names will be posted on the state's Web site at the Office of Consumer Health Assistance.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she was pleased at the quick action by the staff and the Pharmacy Board in getting the seven licensed.

"The board made amazing progress," said Buckley, who was the author of the bill to allow Canadian drugs to be mail-ordered to Nevadans.

Under the board's guidelines, a physician could fax a prescription to one of the Canadian outlets to be filled.

Ling said a consumer could fax the prescription to a Canadian pharmacy but that pharmacy would be required to call the doctor's office in Nevada to verify the prescription. If everything connects, than the drug will be mailed to the consumer.

No refrigerated drugs such as insulin, will be mailed Ling said.

Individual insurance companies will determined whether to cover Canadian drugs.

Larry Pinson, the new executive director of the Pharmacy Board, said he did not expect the Canadian companies will get a lot of business, considering 90 percent of the people have insurance coverage for drugs and the federal Medicare drug coverage law takes effect in January.

"But we may be able to help a portion of the population," Pinson said.

Federal law still prohibits citizens of this country from getting mail order drugs from Canada, but the Nevada Legislature passed a law to set up the system to permit Nevadans to access the less expensive drugs.

Under the safeguards, the Canadian companies would be able to sell only drugs that were made in a Federal Drug Administration-approved plant, even if it was not located in this country. Ling explained that drugs on the shelves in Canada are given a Canadian drug code number. If that number matches exactly with an American drug, than the prescription can be filled.

Jim Morgan, representing the pharmaceutical company Novartis, said the Nevada law designated they must be FDA-approved drugs, not Canadian approved. He quoted from a May 20 letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to Gov. Kenny Guinn that said, "even if the manufacturer has FDA approval for a drug, the version produced for foreign markets usually does not meet all the requirements of the United States approval, and thus is unapproved."

Outside the meeting of the Pharmacy Board on Wednesday Morgan questioned how Nevada regulators would be making periodic inspections of the pharmacies that are thousands of miles away. Nevada licenses out-of-state pharmacies in this country but Morgan said those states have the regulatory muscle to do the inspections for Nevada.

Ling said the Nevada regulations will not allow Canadian pharmacies to use "off-shore affiliates" that could be based anywhere in the world. Drugs going to Nevada consumers must be shipped from Canada and have to be in the dosage prescribed in the United States, not in the dosage of that country.

Once a prescription is received from a Nevada doctor or patient, it is then dispatched to a Canadian doctor for approval. But before it goes to the doctor, a registered pharmacist in Canada must make sure that the prescription is transcribed properly by a clerk.

The Canadian companies must submit to the disciplinary rules of Nevada, said Ling. Nevada's Pharmacy Board would have the authority to discipline a company if there were mistakes or abuses. But it would be up to Canadian authorities to handle a disciplinary case against a Canadian pharmacist.

The board agreed to license Granville Pharmacy of Vancouver and Ultra Care Pharmacy of Surrey, both in British Columbia; Extended Care Pharmacy and Total Care Pharmacy, both in Calgary, Alberta; Hometown Pharmacy of Homewood, K-tel Drug Mart of Canada, Universal Drugstore and Lexiem Pharmacy, all in Manitoba.

The board rejected the applications of Canada U.S. Pharmacy of Winnipeg and Total Care Pharmacy of Calgary because their applications were incomplete and Elmwood Pharmacy of Edmonton because its Canadian license apparently had expired.