Florida Gov. DeSantis’ Canadian Drug Import Plan Goes Nowhere After FDA Approval

Nearly a year after the Biden administration gave Florida the green light to become the first state to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada — a longtime goal of politicians across the political spectrum, including President-elect Donald Trump — the program has yet to begin.

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In 2000, Congress passed a law allowing states to import prescription drugs from north of the border, with the caveat that it could go forward only if the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services affirmed it was safe. That didn’t happen until 2020, when Trump’s HHS secretary, Alex Azar, made such a declaration.

Since 2022, Azar has been chairman of the board at LifeScience Logistics, a Dallas-based company that Florida is paying millions of dollars to set up its drug importation program, including warehousing its medicines.

Azar on Nov. 13 refused to answer questions from KFF Health News about drug importation, saying he wasn’t authorized to speak on the matter.

Florida’s program would not directly assist consumers at the pharmacy. It’s instead aimed at lowering costs for the state Medicaid program and for the corrections and health departments.

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“This was, at best, a boondoggle,” he said.

Florida has spent tens of millions of dollars to stand up its drug importation program. The state has already paid LifeScience Logistics $50 million to set up a warehouse to store the medicines. DeSantis noted the costs in his 2022 lawsuit against the FDA. . .

Florida’s delay may be due to operational challenges, Epstein said. “Predictably, even if they turned on the spigot there would be no flow, because Canada was not going to permit for the supply,” he said.

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dmpi said:

People whine about high drug cost, but the reality is there's just not enough consumer demand for a program like this and the state is ill-equipped to get into the pharmacy business. This program sounds great on paper but it'll fall flat on execution.

Click to expand...

dmpi said:

People whine about high drug cost, but the reality is there's just not enough consumer demand for a program like this and the state is ill-equipped to get into the pharmacy business. This program sounds great on paper but it'll fall flat on execution.

Click to expand...