AstraZeneca targets Canadian parallel imports
pharmafile | October 28, 2003 | News story | |Â Â Â
AstraZeneca has become the second major pharma company to limit sales of drugs to Canada in a bid to curb parallel imports across the border into the US.
The move follows GlaxoSmithKline's similar scheme introduced after it was discovered several Canadian Internet pharmacies were illegally shipping drugs to patients in the US, where prices are much higher.
AstraZeneca has written to Canadian wholesalers and retailers informing them of its 'allotment programme', which is being introduced following an unusually large number of orders for its two ulcer drugs, the blockbusters Losec and Nexium.
The company said such leaps in demand were threatening its ability to ensure a constant supply of the drugs for Canadian patients.
GSK has won support from the Canadian Competition Bureau in its move to block cross-border Internet sales but has drawn fierce criticism from patient groups in the US, including the Stop Glaxo Now coalition of seniors' groups, which is boycotting GSK's OTC products.
But GSK said it was not taking action for financial reasons as it estimated cross-border sales amounted to less than one day of its total US sales. Instead, it was targeting violations of US laws "designed to protect patients".
The Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) said it would work with GSK to resolve the issue, but called for the company to lift the ban.
"If Glaxo was truly concerned about public health, it would not cut off the only supply of affordable medicines available to countless thousands of Americans who have no where else to turn", said Andy Troszok, VP of Standards at the CIPA.
GSK said that buying medicines from another country was not the best way to tackle concerns about drug prices and that patients would better served by lobbying Congress members to pass the Medicare prescription benefit.
Such a benefit has formed part of President George Bush's proposals for reform of the US healthcare system. The President has allotted $400 billion over 10 years to pay for the restructuring of Medicare but concerns remain that the new scheme would still provide inadequate coverage for many patients.
