States Moving Forward with Canadian Drug Importation Plans, Despite No Clear Instruction from Biden Administration

Several states are plowing forward with their efforts to import prescription drugs from Canada to their state, despite no clear indication from the Biden Administration whether such efforts will be supported. The states – including Florida and Colorado – were given the green light under the Trump Administration to outline a process to import drugs from Canada to help Americans get lower-priced prescription medication.

While President Biden supported the idea during the presidential campaign, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) filed a lawsuit in November 2020 to stop the drug-purchasing initiatives, complicating the process for both the states and the federal government.

Florida has hired LifeScience Logistics to help with its implementation. LifeScience is a Dallas-based company that stores prescription drugs in warehouses in Indiana, Maryland, and Texas. The state originally sought bids for $30 million, but after no bids were received, Florida entered into a contract paying as much as $39 million over 2 ½ years, exclusive of the cost of the drugs. Under the Florida plan, the state will purchase drugs for state agencies (including for the Medicaid program and the corrections and health departments) and it is expected to save the state between $80 and $150 million in the first year alone. In addition to hiring LifeScience with implementation assistance, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis included $15 million in his proposed 2021-2022 budget for an importation program.

In Colorado, on January 25, 2021, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing issued a request for companies to bid on its own plan to import drugs from Canada. Different from Florida, Colorado hopes for the plan to initially help individuals buy imported medications at their local pharmacies and would also allow for health insurance plans to include imported drugs in their benefit designs. Colorado plans to work with both a private company in Canada to export medications and a United States importer and to have the program in operation by mid-2022.

When he was in Congress, Biden’s nominee to lead the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, voted in support of a 2003 drug importation law that would allow for certain drugs to be imported from Canada if the HHS Secretary agreed it could be done safely. Whether that is an indication of the support the current Administration has for the policy, though, has yet to be seen.