Prescription drug import plan advances

National News

December 18, 2019 - 10:41 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration, eager to show progress on prescription drug costs, moved forward today on its plan to allow Americans to safely and legally get access to lower-priced medicines from abroad.

Health officials unveiled a proposed regulation that would allow states to import many brand name drugs from Canada, with federal oversight. A second draft plan would let pharmaceutical companies seek approval to import their own drugs, from any country.

It’s unclear that either idea will have an impact on patients’ costs ahead of the 2020 election, but the Trump administration has advanced beyond its predecessors in trying to set up a supervised system for importing drugs. Medicines cost less in other advanced countries because the governments take an active role in setting prices.

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