Thursday, February 19, 2004

From the Palm Beach (FL) Post:
Wis. Web Site for Canadian Meds Running
Wisconsin will have a Web site up and running next week that will enable its residents to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday.

Doyle said the site will be similar to one operated by neighboring Minnesota, which offers links to order forms from two state-inspected Canadian pharmacies. Buyers download the forms, which they then fax or mail directly to the pharmacies.

From the Globe and Mail:
Net pharmacies squeezed as Pfizer pulls the plug
Some Internet pharmacies cut off this month by one of the world's biggest drug companies are struggling to calm panicked U.S. customers and find the supplies they need to stay in business.

"I think this is the biggest threat that we've faced," Jeff Uhl, a pharmacist and owner of Universal Drugstore in Winnipeg, said Thursday.

From the Boston Globe:
Pfizer cuts some supplies, tensions rise
After issuing a warning, Pfizer Inc. said it has cut off several Canadian internet pharmacies for exporting its drugs, raising tensions between pharmaceutical firms and American patients seeking less expensive medicines.

The world's biggest drug company wouldn't say Thursday how many companies received the Feb. 12 letter which said the pharmacies violated business agreements by either selling drugs to individuals outside Canada or selling to others who would export. The letter said Pfizer's authorized distributors in Canada were told to cut the companies off immediately.

From the Advocate:
Pfizer cuts off supplies to Canadian mail-order companies
In a February 12 letter, Pfizer informed seven Canadian pharmacies that they were no longer approved to purchase the company's products from Pfizer Canada's authorized distributors. GlaxoSmithKline, which markets six anti-HIV medications, late last year began restricting shipments of its drugs to Canadian pharmacies that export to the United States.

From the Edmonton Journal:
Roving pharmacists at your service
The house call started making a comeback in the health care system Wednesday, thanks to an Edmonton-based chain of drugstores across Canada and the United States.

Instead of doctors, the roving medical advisers will be pharmacists, dispatched by Katz Group Canada Ltd., owner of more than 1,500 Rexall, Pharma Plus, Medicine Shoppe, Guardian and I.D.A. outlets in Canada, plus 1,100 Synder's Drug Stores in the U.S.

From SiliconValley.com (Calif.):
Biotech leaders oppose cheaper Canada drugs
Biotechnology industry leaders joined federal government officials Thursday to warn that efforts to make it easier to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada will endanger California's growing biotechnology sector.

The criticism, from participants in a private conference in Southern California on drug imports, was a response to attempts by the state legislature and others to save money for taxpayers and consumers through imports.

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