From CBC Manitoba:
Pink slips hit web pharmacies
Internet pharmacies are one of the fastest-growing industries in Manitoba – but job losses on Monday have caused some to question how much longer they can survive.

The success of internet pharmacies is based on offering brand-name drugs to Americans at lower Canadian prices.

Large pharmaceutical companies have been fighting back by restricting drug sales to online pharmacies. Now many pharmacies don't have enough supplies to sell to their U.S. customers – and they're starting to feel the pinch.

From CBS Chicago:
Giuliani Fights Import Of Cheaper Drugs
It’s already been the subject of millions of dollars of campaign commercials this year in Illinois, and it's a top priority for Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Now, the practice of importing less-expensive prescription drugs is coming under fire from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who says it's fraught with peril.

The former mayor is joining the imported drug debate as a hired gun, though Giuliani declined to say just how much the pharmaceutical industry is paying him.

From KELOLAND (SD):
Seeking Rx Relief to the North
When the purse strings get tight around your house, what's the first thing to go? Unfortunately, for many seniors, it's their monthly prescriptions. A recent Harvard study finds that as co-pays soar, and prescription prices skyrocket, many sticker-shocked patients are skipping their meds. The woman you are about to meet is among them.

After dealing with diabetes, arthritis, an enlarged heart, a stroke and osteoporosis, 80-year-old Gertie Breen got used to popping 17 pills a day. She says, "Every day when I take and look at those pills in the morning, when I had to take them, it was just about all I could do not to throw 'em, just throw 'em! It was maddening." What she and her husband, Norman, couldn't get used to was watching their monthly pharmacy bill climb. Norman Breen adds, "We'd go to the pharmacy and we had so much money for prescriptions and here it was 25-30 dollars more than what we figured."

From the Coos Bay (OR) World:
State regulators shut down the Canadian connection
Paul Pfeiffer of Eugene saves $2,000 a year buying his three name-brand medications from a pharmacy in Canada.

Drug bills for Herbert Barnes of Springfield used to run as much as $4,500 a year. Now that he's ordering the same drugs from Canada, those costs are down to $600 a year.

Pfeiffer, 86, and Barnes, 90, rely on Canada Drug Supply, a local company with outlets in Eugene and Springfield, for the steep drug discounts. The business helps customers with prescriptions from local doctors obtain their medications by mail from Canada.

At the end of the month, however, Canada Drug Supply will lose Barnes and Pfeiffer as customers, along with the other 2,000-plus clients the business serves. That's because the firm will close its operations rather than face state fines.