Boston — The city of Boston and the state of New Hampshire announced Tuesday they will begin buying prescription drugs from Canada, jumping to the forefront of the growing but illegal movement to take advantage of lower prices across the border.
New Hampshire would become the first state in the country to turn to Canada for drugs, and Boston would become the largest U.S. city.
Springfield, 145 kilometres west of Boston, was the first U.S. city to begin importing Canadian drugs for city employees. Meanwhile, Burlington, Vt., plans to start importing prescription drugs for city employees on March 1, Mayor Peter Clavelle said Tuesday.
“It's illegal, but it's about time we forced the issue,” said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, a Democrat. “Why is the consumer the only one to pay full price for prescription drugs?”
The mayor said Boston will begin buying prescription drugs this summer for about 7,000 city employees and retirees.
New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson said the state will begin buying medicines for prison inmates and Medicaid recipients as soon as possible. His spokesman would not be more specific on when it would start.
“It's time we stood up as a state and did the right thing and allowed citizens to purchase drugs from the most affordable supplier,” said Mr. Benson, a Republican.
The Boston and New Hampshire plans were announced a day after President George W. Bush signed the Medicare prescription drug bill, which forbids re-importation of Canadian drugs unless the U.S. Health and Human Services Department certifies their safety. So far, the department has refused to do so.
The Food and Drug Administration reiterated its warnings Tuesday against any importation of drugs.
“For the mayor of Boston or anyone else to presume that they can make drugs safe simply be saying they are safe is extremely risky behaviour,” said Peter Pitts, FDA's associate commissioner for external affairs. “The public servants of Boston deserve better than a gimmick.”
Mr. Menino, past president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said he wants to meet FDA head Mark McClellan and secretary of health and human Services, Tommy Thompson, to seek help in making the process safe and legal.
Under the New Hampshire governor's plan, the state prison system would save money on nine of 10 drugs most commonly prescribed for inmates. The state also will buy Medicaid drugs from Canada when the Canadian price is lower than the state's usual share of the Medicaid cost.
The state will also post a website within 10 days providing links to Canadian pharmacies where any New Hampshire resident can get a prescription filled. The pharmacies will be approved as safe by the state, Mr. Benson said.
Boston's 15,000 employees and retirees have drug costs covered in two ways: through outside health plans, or directly by the city. The second group, about 7,000 people who are mostly retirees, will have the option of buying from Canada.
The program would cut about $1 million US each year from the city's $61 million prescription drug bill, according to city estimates.
Wanda Moebius, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said municipal leaders would do better to tell employees about programs for people who cannot afford prescription drugs.
“People's safety shouldn't take a back seat to savings,” she said. “There are probably ways to save money, through competitively bid pharmaceutical benefit managers that don't open up the risks that importation does.”
Mr. Menino said the program would be kept small at first, to ensure safety.
Outgoing Springfield Mayor Michael Albano, who has travelled widely to tout his city's importation plan, said Mr. Menino's move will force the FDA to take notice. Though importing drugs from Canada is illegal, the FDA has not tried to stop Springfield.
Mr. Albano said he expects the move to “send shock waves across the country.”
“I think the timing of it speaks volumes,” said Mr. Albano, a Democrat. “It tells me that bill meant nothing to those of us who are looking for relief.”
Burlington, the largest city in Vermont, has 600 employees, but Mr. Clavelle said he wants to expand the prescription option to other Vermonters. “I'm hopeful to create a program that would reach school employees, city retirees and other citizens,” he said.
“I have received no federal threat and I'm certainly not waiting for their permission,” Mr. Clavelle said of the FDA.
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), appearing with Mr. Menino at an unrelated event Tuesday, said he supports the mayor's plan.
“As part of the effort to reclaim Medicare and to move this nation into an affordable, dependable, reliable prescription drug program for seniors, I think importation from Canada is justified,” he said.
But Ira Loss, executive vice-president of Washington Analysis, which conducts research for institutional investors, said Mr. Menino is making a mistake.
“This is not an approach that is going to win this guy any favours, any friends in Washington,” Ms. Loss said. “It's breaking the rule of law.”
© The Globe and Mail
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