Reimportation is still illegal (yes Grandma, I'm sorry your Lipitor is as contraband as a Cuban cigar). My understanding from my class in professional pharmacy is that Canadian and most of the EU governments stringently control the prices of drugs keeping them artificially low. This has come at the expense of research and development (R&D), which is why the majority of the major drug companies have moved out of Europe and into the US. According to Tufts University, the cost of bringing a new drug to market costs an average of $802 million
Granted,
I do think pharmaceutical companies spend too much on DTC advertising, advertising to MDs, hospitals and pharmacies, and lobbying, but R&D still IS very expensive, especially with biopharmaceuticals. 20 years ago, the majority of pharmaceutical development was in Germany, Switzerland and the UK. Today 60% of drug companies are in the US (Novartis, GSK, Aventis, Pharmacia).
Beyond cost, the legitimacy of imported drugs is always questionable. Anyone who keeps up with the pharmacy journals knows that counterfeit drugs are confiscated frequently. Additionally, I think the health of the consumer, even with safe drugs, is at risk due to the lack of face-to-face contact, patient counseling and the fragmenting of patient records by using several pharmacies and pharmacies that rely on the internet. If someone gets Viagra from Canada, how is Hometown USA pharmacy supposed to know there could be a potential interaction with that patient's heart medications (although this is a problem anytime patients use multiple pharmacies and do not divulge their entire health history).
Further, I think price controls (which could be a possibility in the US driven by reimportation) will greatly hurt research for orphan drugs.
The bottom line is the pharmaceutical companies are not charities and are out to make a profit, which is what make the US a capitalist nation ? it is also what leads to innovation. I think reimportation could hurt us, but since the FDA seems vehemently opposed to it, for time being, I believe we are safe. I think there are better alternatives to control the cost of drugs such as more a more streamlined FDA approval process, controls of DTC advertising, etc.
Can you tell I?m a little passionate on this subject ?