Canada Drugs - Buying Prescription Drugs From Canada

Drug regulation in Canada is the responsibility of Health Canada, following the guidelines set forth in Canada's Food and Drugs Act and Regulations. Health Canada is responsible for continually monitoring every drug on the market for safety, efficacy and quality. For new drugs, only Health Canada can authorize their sale in Canada after conducting a comprehensive review of the drug's safety and efficacy.

Health Canada is also charged with monitoring a drug product's compliance with the regulations contained in the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations. This includes a provision that requires prescription drugs in Canada to be sold only if prescribed by a licensed practitioner who is licensed in a Canadian province. Any drugs entering Canada to be sold to Canadians or to be exported from Canada must comply with the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations.

The pricing of prescription drugs sold in Canada is subject to direct price controls by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB). Many factors operate in different countries that affect the pricing of pharmaceutical drugs in a particular country, including patent status, currency, regulatory system, and prescription requirements. On average, Canadian drugs are cheaper than those sold in the U.S. The PMPRB uses the median price of a drug in comparison to seven other industrial countries to set the Canadian drug price. Canada drug prices are in line with six of the seven countries it uses to set prices. These six countries are all in Europe, and all have some form of publicly funded health care system, along with drug price control measures. The seventh comparison country is the United States.

Generally speaking, Canada's drug prices for new medications entering the market is limited to the prices charged for similar drugs already sold in Canada that are used to treat the same illness or disease, as well as the median price charged in the seven comparison countries. Price increases for drugs already on the Canadian market are limited to increases in the Consumer Price Index.

Dispensing Canadian Drugs

The Regulations of the Food and Drugs Act state that only a licensed practitioner can write a prescription. This includes doctors and dentists who are licensed in a Canadian province. Only a registered pharmacist can dispense a drug and only with a prescription signed by a licensed Canadian doctor or dentist. Prescription drugs cannot be dispensed to any individual without a signed prescription.

What these regulations mean to U.S. consumers purchasing prescription drugs from Canada is that their U.S. prescription must be reviewed and signed by a licensed Canadian doctor prior to being dispensed through a licensed Canadian pharmacy.

Health Canada states: ""The cross border sale of drugs to the United States has become an important business in Canada because many Americans are taking advantage of lower Canadian patented drug prices and are purchasing their drugs from Canada. Neither Canada's international trade obligations nor our domestic laws prohibit these exports."
(Health Canada Online, 2004)

It is the responsibility of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure that prescription drugs entering the United States pass requirements contained in the United States Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act.