Colorado updates drug importation proposal, cuts list of meds by 88, adds Ozempic
PSM has said for two decades that foreign drug importation plans are unworkable, unsafe, and won't save money.
Colorado's updated Canadian drug importation application to the FDA continues to show that foreign drug importation has major implementation issues. Notably:
Colorado's drug list is now only 24 medicines.
The last application in December 2022 had 112 unique drugs and dosages. The current request contains only 24.
Now, Colorado wishes to import Ozempic from Canada
Ozempic wasn't on Colorado's original drug list from December 2022, but is currently on the short list of 24 drugs they want to import. Canada is very sensitive about Ozempic because British Columbia had an enormous amount of its Ozempic supply removed from the province by mail order pharmacies illegally sending Ozempic to Americans in 2023. The province enacted a regulation to block these sorts of exports as a response.
Officials in Colorado, knowing that this drug has availability issues worldwide, knowing the Canadians put measures in place to block its export, and seeing there's an active Ozempic counterfeit threat occurring, have announced their intention to pilfer Canada's supply of the medicine.
Colorado has not acknowledged that Canadians are opposed
Canadians have said repeatedly they are not willing to let Florida, Colorado, or any other state raid their medicine supply. The FDA's approval of Florida's plan in January caused a flurry of diplomatic activity with the White House and ardent statements of opposition from Canadian officials. The real situation is that Health Canada will not voluntarily provide these medicines to U.S. states, which should give Americans pause: who will actually be supplying these drugs?
Read the updated application here.
- A- SIP Sponsor
- B- Foreign Seller
- C- Importer
- D- Drug List Data
- E- Actuarial Cost Analysis
- F- Certification Reports
- G- Figure Library
- H- FDA Correspondence
- I- Stakeholder Engagement