Jan. 5, 2024 – U.S. regulators on Friday authorized a plan to permit Florida to import medications, describing this as a step towards permitting the state to buy medications immediately from Canada at a cheaper price.

The FDA approved Florida’s Company for Well being Care Management’s drug importation program. The state will have to subsequent satisfy a number of tasks, together with appearing that the medication it seeks to import had been examined for, amongst different issues, authenticity and compliance with FDA specs and requirements, the company mentioned.

That is the primary approval of a state drug importation plan. It marks a win for lawmakers in each events who’ve for a few years noticed Canadian drug importation with the intention to scale back U.S. pharmaceutical prices. Backers of this idea come with each Democrats, like President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Republicans, like former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

However pharma teams within the U.S. vowed to combat the plan. 

In a Friday observation, the industry team for drugmakers, Pharmaceutical Analysis and Producers of The us (PhRMA) mentioned it is thinking about “all choices” for blocking off Florida’s plan to import medications from Canada.

And it’s unclear how neatly state drug importation plans would determine in observe in the event that they cross into impact. 

Canadian officers and scientific organizations have lengthy objected to the theory of huge importation into america. As an example, the Canadian Pharmacists Affiliation in 2020 warned the FDA all the way through the Trump management that the sort of diversion of its medications could be “devastating” to a country, traumatic drug shortages and lengthening drug prices.

Many of us within the U.S. already make journeys to Canada and Mexico searching for decrease costs. 

The FDA has been running for years on rules to permit broader drug imports. The company in 2022 rejected a request from New Hampshire, mentioning a loss of key data, together with main points at the anticipated provider of the medications. Different states the place lawmakers have severely regarded as drug importation come with Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, Ohio, and Vermont, in step with a December 2023 document from the Texas Well being and Human Services and products division.

In a Friday observation, FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, MD, mentioned his company will paintings with different states and with Local American tribes on plans for uploading medication.

“Those proposals will have to show the techniques would lead to important value financial savings to shoppers with out including chance of publicity to unsafe or useless medication,” he mentioned in a observation.