Importation

AstraZeneca supports the federal law that prohibits commercial importation of prescription medicines by anyone other than the drug’s manufacturer for a very simple reason: Commercial importation into the US would make it impossible to ensure the safety and integrity of medicines.

Background

Much of the early support for prescription drug importation from foreign countries was based on seniors’ lack of prescription drug coverage. Prior to the creation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, more than 25 percent of seniors did not have prescription drug coverage.

While all seniors now have access to prescription drug coverage, some state and federal policy makers, as well as others, continue to urge Congress to pass legislation allowing for the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere.

What we believe

Safety: The safety and integrity of prescription medicines in the United States depends upon the existing system that regulates and oversees medicines from the manufacturing plant to the patient.

• The existing system significantly reduces the possibility of counterfeit, adulterated, misbranded, or mishandled drugs entering the U.S. supply chain and being taken by patients.
• With commercial importation, the integrity of drugs imported from abroad cannot be assured, and a system attempting to do so would be complex, difficult, and costly – at best.    

Cost: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that it is unlikely that permitting prescription drug commercial importation will provide meaningful cost savings to patients.

• Specifically, the CBO found that much of the cost savings would likely be consumed by those in the distribution chain and by the infrastructure costs necessary to support an importation system. Click here to learn more.

Price controls: From a broader economic perspective, by importing prescription drugs from abroad, the United States would essentially be importing the price controls of the countries from which the drugs were imported.

• Lower prescription drug prices in other countries are the result of government-set pricing.
• The absence of price controls in the U.S. market allows continued investment in important breakthrough therapies that will improve the lives of patients tomorrow, making us the global leader in research and development and pharmaceutical innovation.

Helping patients

AstraZeneca believes that assisting those without prescription drug coverage can be done without jeopardizing the safety of the U.S. supply chain or our continued investment in biopharmaceutical innovation.

Seniors can now obtain prescription medications under Medicare Part D. For those not yet eligible for Medicare and without prescription drug coverage, assistance can be obtained through prescription assistance programs offered by most innovator biopharmaceutical companies.

In 2006, through the AstraZeneca prescription savings programs, we provided more than $407 million in savings to more than 530,000 patients throughout the US and Puerto Rico.

Still, AstraZeneca recognizes that more needs to be done, and we are committed to working with policy makers and others in the healthcare system to help ensure those without prescription drug coverage have access to safe medicines.