OPEN LETTER

January 12, 2007

The Honourable Tony Clement, PC, MP
Minister of Health
70 Columbine Driveway
Tunney’s Pasture
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0K9

Dear Minister:

We are writing to you as representatives of the Canadian Pharmacists Association, the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association, the Best Medicines Coalition, and the Canadian Association for Pharmacy Distribution Management. Together, as Canadian pharmacists, patients, and members of the supply chain, we call on the Government of Canada to institute an immediate ban on the export, both bulk and retail, of prescription drugs from Canada.

Further to our letter of November 22, 2006, to which we continue respectfully to await your reply, we asked for an immediate meeting to discuss your government’s plans to protect Canada’s drug supply and ensure continued access to treatments by Canadian patients. Resolution of this issue is critical in light of the expressed intent of American legislators to legalize the individual and bulk importation of lower-priced Canadian prescription drugs into the United States.

Our concerns have now been realized. Two days ago, on January 10, a bi-partisan bill advancing these objectives was introduced in both houses of the U.S. Congress. The Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2007 would open the floodgates to an unprecedented level of cross-border prescription drug buying, not only by individual American patients, but also through large-volume bulk purchasing by U.S. health management organizations, state drug plans, and other large entities such as high volume retail chains. Congressional leaders are predicting quick passage of this bill and suggested Wednesday that they will have sufficient support in Congress to override a presidential veto.

For the full document, click here (PDF format).