Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Lobbying Canada

The US pharmaceutical industry is mounting a multi-million dollar lobbying effort to get Canada to ban the practice of shipping prescription drugs into the US.

Drugs made in the US and shipped to Canada are cheaper than the same drugs sold in the US. The price can be 32% to 62% cheaper. Americans bought 12 million prescriptions worth about $700 million from Canada in 2003.

PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying arm, has hired a former US ambassador to Canada to help with the lobbying effort. The Center for Public Integrity obtained Canadian lobbyist disclosure forms showing the extent of the campaign. (CPI)

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