Importation Policies  for Much Lower Drug Prices

Protect and expand safe personal drug importation practices permissible under current law 

Over the past 25 years, personal prescription drug importation has become a lifeline of affordable medications for Americans. Federal law is far more permissive of this lifesaving channel than is commonly known. Clearly, Americans should be able to import safe prescription drugs if they cannot afford them here. Even when technically illegal, federal law supports this choice through enforcement discretion when the import is not an unreasonable risk.

Support state-based Canadian wholesale drug importation programs

Americans have been traveling to Canada for decades to obtain more affordable and safe prescription drugs or order them online. They should be able to access those same lower prices at their local pharmacies. Federal law permits wholesale drug importation from Canada. Federal regulations specifically allow state-based Canadian drug importation programs. Yet these programs have either been rejected or held up by the FDA. It is time to let those programs move forward.

At the same time, Canada is too small for a sustainable and long-term commercial importation channel. Canada has 40 million people compared to 340 million in the U.S. It cannot supply lower-cost drugs in the quantities necessary to fill the affordability gap. That’s why we need legislation to expand the list of countries eligible for large-scale drug importation under federal law, and especially from the European Union, which is discussed below.

Support federal legislation to allow wholesale drug importation from Europe

Congress must pass legislation to allow for the wholesale importation of lower-cost prescription drugs from the European Union and other high-income countries with strong systems of drug supply chain safety. Europe is the largest exporter of brand-name prescription drugs to the United States. Current law only allows drug manufacturers to import their own products for resale. That means they sell their drugs at a much lower cost in the EU, and then charge the highest prices in the world for those same drugs in America. The EU maintains one of the world’s safest pharmaceutical regulatory systems and offers much lower drug prices than the U.S. and Canada. The Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act would legalize wholesale importation of lower-cost prescription drugs from Europe.