January 26, 2007

The Honorable Richard Durbin
Senate Majority Whip
332 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510

The undersigned organizations, representing Canadian pharmacists and patients, are extremely concerned by the introduction in both houses of Congress of the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2007.

This legislative proposal poses an imminent and serious threat to the security and integrity of Canada’s drug supply, and a genuine threat to the health of Canadians. Of equal importance, this legislation represents a threat to American patients, by allowing relinquishment of necessary community-based medication monitoring and management and increasing risks from potential counterfeit drugs.

Allowing bulk prescription drug imports would not significantly reduce U.S. prescription prices for very long. Even a recent University of Texas study concluded, based on a worst-case scenario, that Canada’s stocks of prescription drugs would amount to about a 38-day supply for the United States (assuming all U.S. medications were Canadian-sourced). Once U.S. demand depletes Canadian stocks, prices will almost certainly rise, narrowing or possibly even eliminating the difference between U.S. and Canadian pharmaceutical prices.

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