A recently passed Albany County law permitting county employees to purchase medicine from a Canadian distributor, CanaRx, is illegal, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The bill’s sponsor, Shawn Morse, D-Cohoes, and County Executive Mike Breslin argue the program could save substantial amounts of money. Morse also contends that the drugs purchased through CanaRx are not any less safe than those produced in the U.S.
Cohoes Mayor John McDonald, a pharmacist, said he applauds Morse for trying to save the county money, but is concerned with the legality of importation of medicine from Canada.
`I commend Shawn for trying to find ways to save money for tax payers. I’m not trying to knock what they’re doing,` McDonald said. `But, it’s illegal. It gets to be a patient safety matter.`
The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement to The Spotlight regarding the matter, specifically addressing CanaRx.
`CanaRx is an online drug seller that FDA has had concerns with in the past because they were facilitating the sale of unapproved and illegal drugs that potentially pose health risks. And, FDA has no reason to believe that the situation has changed,` the statement reads.
`Under current law, importing drugs from abroad that are not approved in the United States is illegal. It’s ‘buyer beware’ when consumers purchase prescription drugs over the internet. The FDA has seen Internet-purchased drugs that have too much, too little, no, or the wrong active ingredient as a result. The President’s proposed FY2010 budget includes $5 million for the FDA to develop policies to allow Americans to buy drugs approved in other countries. The FDA is working with the Administration on this effort.`
The resolution was passed at a Monday, June 8, meeting of the Albany County Legislature. Breslin signed the bill into law on Friday, June 12, said Mary Duryea, a representative from his office.
`He felt comfortable from a legal standpoint signing the resolution,` Duryea said. She said he sought advice from the county’s legal counsel before doing so.
She added Breslin also supports the resolution, since it will save retirees and town employee’s money in the tough economic climate.
`Hopefully, in the next month it will be up and running and we’ll save some money,` Morse said. `These are tough economic times. Everybody is trying to figure out ways to save money,` he said.
The law allows county employees to buy prescription brand-name drugs through the Canadian drug company CanaRx for what Morse said is 30 to 60 percent less than it was previously paying. He said county employees will have the option to opt into the program but would not be obligated to. He said employees who participate will have no co-pay, and it would affect county employees and retirees who are insured through the county.
As an example, Morse said Albany County spent close to $844,000 on the Nexium, one of the most popular acid reflux disease drugs on the market, and purchasing the medicine through CanaRx could cut that price in half.
In total, Morse estimates savings between $800,000 and $3 million depending on how many employees sign up for the program.
Morse said the biggest opposition to the bill has been pharmaceutical lobbyists who claim that Canadian drugs are held to a lower standard than U.S. drugs, but Morse said these claims have no factual backing.
Morse said he has put close to three years of research into the bill, and has not encountered any cases of Canadian medicine being unsafe.
He noted that the packaging and color might be different, but the drugs are essentially the same. `The bottom line is the ingredients are the ingredients,` he said.
Morse said he regrets that the bill does not call for purchasing local medicine, but noted that the U.S. is the only industrialized country that does not negotiate the price of medicine for its residents.
Morse sponsored another bill in March that would allow a free discount drug card for all county residents, and it is to be enacted soon. The two bills are technically separate, but are designed to go hand-in-hand, Morse said.
`I think the two of them compliment each other,` he said.
Morse said he is hopeful that ProAct will be selected as the company providing the free drug card. They already provide a similar program in Schenectady.
He noted the hard work of Lucy McKnight, past president of the New York State Association of Counties.
`Through her hard work, bringing ProAct to the forefront, I’m excited to try to get them do our prescription drug credit,` he said.
McDonald, however, raised some opposition to the latest county drug law, citing consumer safety as a concern.
He said that other counties have begun purchasing drugs from Canada, even though it is against the law.
`[The federal governement], doesn’t enforce it, and that’s a sin,` McDonald said. `Why [Albany County] would want to incur this risk and liability is a mystery.`
He said while the specific drugs might be FDA approved, such as Nexium and Lipitor, a cholesterol medication, there is no guarantee that the factories producing them are.
McDonald said that while many of the most expensive drugs can be purchased cheaper out of the U.S., using HMO’s preferred drugs and generics can save just as much, if not more.
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