Acri K (2020) State Pharmaceutical Importation Programmes: an Analysis of the Cost‐Effectiveness

This research paper (available here in pdf form), which was published in Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research in March 2020.

State Pharmaceutical Importation Programmes: an Analysis of the Cost‐Effectiveness

Author:

Dr. Kristina M.L. Acri née Lybecker, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute and Associate Professor of Economics at Colorado College in Colorado Springs

Abstract:

This article examines the cost‐effectiveness of the pharmaceutical importation programmes currently under consideration. On 18 December 2019, the Trump Administration laid out a plan to allow states, drug wholesalers and pharmacies to import some lower‐cost prescription medications from Canada. This comes on the heels of recently proposed state legislation in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia aimed at reducing spending on pharmaceuticals by importing them from Canada.