Cities and local governments in several states said they will continue to use a Canadian company to offer employees prescription drugs at a highly reduced price, even though federal officials raised safety concerns about the practice last week.
The municipalities use CanaRx, which connects their employees with brick-and-mortar pharmacies in Canada, Great Britain and Australia to fill prescriptions.
In a Feb. 28 letter to CanaRx, the Food and Drug Administration said the company has sent unapproved and misbranded drugs to U.S. consumers, jeopardizing their safety.
The FDA urged consumers not to use any medicines from CanaRx, which works with about 500 cities, counties, school districts and private employers to arrange drug purchases. Some of these employers have used the service as far back as 2004.
Prices of drugs from overseas pharmacies can be as much as 70 percent lower than what people pay in the U.S. because the costs are regulated by the foreign governments.
FDA officials would not explain why they waited more than a decade to act. They acknowledged the agency had no reports of anyone harmed by drugs received through CanaRx.
The FDA made its warning as Congress and the Trump administration look into ways to lower drug prices. Last month, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said he has President Donald Trumps backing to start a program to begin importing drugs from Canada for state residents.
After DeSantis comments, White House officials stressed that any such plan must get state and federal approvals.
The FDA said that in most cases importing drugs for personal use is illegal, although it very rarely has tried to stop Americans from bringing drugs across the Canadian border. It has not stopped retail stores in Florida that help consumers buy drugs from Canada since 2003. Nine storefronts were raided by FDA officials in 2017, although the FDA has allowed them to continue operating.
Schenectady County in New York, which has worked with CanaRx since 2004, defended its relationship and had no immediate plans to end it, according to Chris Gardner, the county attorney. We will wait to see how this plays out, but right now its status quo, Gardner said.
He said CanaRx, which is headquartered in Windsor, Ontario, helped the county save $500,000 on drug costs in 2018. About 25 percent of the countys 1,200 workers use the program and get their drugs with no out-of-pocket costs. If they use American pharmacies, they generally have a co-payment.
This is a good program, and on the merits it looks lawful, and they are not doing the terrible things that the FDA is suggesting, Gardner said.
CanaRx officials denied they were breaking any laws or putting Americans health at risk. They say they are not an online pharmacy but a broker between brick-and-mortar pharmacies in Canada, Australia and Great Britain and U.S. employees. People can buy drugs via CanaRx only with a prescription from their doctor.
The company said it has no plans to stop distributing drugs.
The FDAs characterizations of the CanaRx business model and operating protocols are completely wrong, said Joseph Morris, a Chicago-based lawyer for the company. It is not possible to place an order via any CanaRx website; the websites are informational only.
Morris said the FDA notice prompted calls from many municipalities but all so far say they plan to stick with the company.
