Three Senators Urge HHS to Allow Importing Drugs from Canada to Cut Costs

Three senators urged newly confirmed secretary of HHS, Tom Price, to fast track the importation of certain prescription drugs from Canada following “significant or unexplained” increases in U.S. prices.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) listed four circumstances in which Price could allow pharmacists, wholesalers and consumers to import medicines that are deemed safe — under authority granted in a 2003 Medicare reform law.

Importation should be also permitted, they said, when a drug is off patent or no longer marketed; if there is no direct competitor drug available to help lower prices; or if the drug is produced in another country by a manufacturer with a record of selling pharmaceutical products in the U.S.