CNBC has a story here that Florida has been granted FDA approval to import pharmaceuticals from Canada. This is the first of multiple states that have submitted importation plans to the FDA to be approved.
This has the potential to afford massive savings on drugs for state residents. As expected, CNBC notes:
But Florida’s newly approved plan will likely face hurdles before it takes effect, including potential lawsuits from the pharmaceutical industry.
Drugmakers have long argued that importation may introduce counterfeit medicines into the U.S. supply chain and harm patients – a concern the FDA previously raised because the agency can’t guarantee the safety of those drugs.
This even though the state can assure it buys the same drugs from the same manufacturers that it would buy otherwise.
A great step forward but one that will be fought tooth and nail by Big Pharma.
Update:
For more information, the FDA approval letter can be found here. To answer Elwood Dowd’s comment below, the approval is for the State of Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Drug Importation Plan under the Section 804 Importation Program (FDA description here). This program is a program for states or Native American Tribes to direct import drugs from Canada (and only from Canada) to “significantly reduce the cost of these drugs to the American consumer”