From the National Post:
Parents of woman who died of adverse drug reaction demand answers
The parents of a 22-year-old nursing student who died two years ago after a doctor's prescription turned deadly went public Monday in their battle to get to the bottom of their daughter's death.

Martha Murray was found dead from a heart attack in September 2002 after she'd been prescribed lithium to treat her bipolar disorder.

From New York Newsday:
Federal government sues to stop importation of drugs from Canada
The U.S. government on Monday asked a federal court to shut down a New York company that allegedly imported prescription drugs from Canada for resale in the United States.

Claire Ruggiero and her daughter-in-law, Christine Ruggiero, introduced drugs to the U.S. market that had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The lawsuit doesn't specify an amount, but the government has asked the court to shut down the Ruggiero's business, Canada Care Drugs, based in Goshen, N.Y.

From the Canadian Press:
Fabry patients fight on after panel urges governments not to cover drug costs
Patients suffering from a devastating and fatal condition known as Fabry disease are vowing to fight on after a drug review panel advised governments across the country not to cover the extraordinarily high cost of the only drugs available to treat them.

"The patients are obviously very, very anxious," says Fabry patient Ed Koning, his voice rising with anger as he discusses the recommendation of the Common Drug Review on the two drugs, Fabrazyme and Replagal.

From the Canadian Press:
Pill shortages hard to swallow, pharmacists say
Drug shortages are approaching epidemic levels in Canada, according to the Canadian Pharmacists Association.

The association says 80 per cent of pharmacists who responded to a poll had experienced supply shortfalls in the previous week - forcing them to buy outside their usual channels and talk to physicians and patients about shifting to equivalent medications.

From the Peoria (IL) Journal Star:
Drug plan slow to catch on
Nearly two months after the introduction of the I-SaveRx prescription drug program, the plan that Gov. Rod Blagojevich likened to a "prairie fire" is barely smoldering. Nearly 1,100 people - out of an estimated 5 million uninsured residents in participating states Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri - have completed enrollment forms and ordered prescription drugs from the program's wholesalers and pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Central Illinois senior citizen advocates point to poor timing and natural caution as reasons for poor sign-up to the program that allows importation of prescription drugs despite federal regulations against the practice.

Fromthe Barrie (Ont.) Advance:
OxyContin quickly becoming a problem in North America
Since its launch in 1996, OxyContin has become North America's most prescribed painkiller.
On the street, where its illicit use grows, it is known as "killer," a term Newmarket's Sandra Norris can attest is only too appropriate.

Norris, a quality-improvement specialist with York Region, looked back to last May 28. It was her 15th wedding anniversary, but it will be forever remembered as the day her nephew, Chad Gardiner, died. He committed suicide, leaping from the top level of a parking garage in London, Ont. He was 26, and addicted to OxyContin.

From the Globe and Mail:
Agency seeks to tighten guidelines
The agency that approves the cost of prescription drugs in Canada wants to tighten its guidelines in the wake of widespread price increases pushed through by the pharmaceutical industry this year.

“I do not want to be alarmist, but I do want to raise an alarm,” Robert Elgie, chairman of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, told a conference of pharmaceutical executives in Toronto earlier this week.

From the Woonsocket (RI) Call:
Seniors call ‘fowl’ over Canadian drugs
The Gray Panthers of Rhode Island have bestowed their second annual Turkey of the Year award to the Rhode Island Pharmacists Association and the Rhode Island Board of Pharmacy for their resistance to re-importing prescription drugs from Canada.

"We wanted them to work with us and they are not working with us," Panthers President Irene Santos said Wednesday. "They say we can’t buy Canadian drugs because they aren’t safe. What do they think we are, stupid?

From Canada East:
Government programs routinely overpay for prescription drugs: auditor
The federal government is spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars more than necessary for its prescription-drug benefit programs, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser said Tuesday.

The government is the fourth-largest buyer of prescription drugs in the country, behind Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, but doesn't have a policy to buy drugs in bulk or demand generic alternatives to pricier brand names.

On one class of stomach ulcer drug alone, Ottawa could have saved $13 million in 2002-03 had it ensured use of the lowest cost alternative, said the auditor general.

From the Globe and Mail:
Little done to rectify problems, Fraser says
The number of people who obtained 50 or more prescriptions in a three-month period through Health Canada's prescription-drug program has tripled over the past four years even though the issue was raised by the federal Auditor-General in 2000.

That is just one of the many problems with federal drug-benefit plans highlighted in a report released yesterday by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser, who expressed exasperation at the department's inability to rectify the situation.

From the Globe and Mail:
Bone loss could be permanent, contraceptive maker warns
Women using the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera can lose significant bone mineral density, damage that may be irreversible and puts them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis, the drug's maker is warning.

In a letter being sent to health professionals who prescribe the drug, Dr. Bernard Prigent, medical director of Pfizer Canada Inc., said "bone loss is greater with increasing duration and may not be completely reversible."

From the Montreal Gazette :
Danger link gets stronger for heart drug
Health Canada has received more reports of a rare but potentially serious muscle reaction in people taking the anti-cholesterol pill Crestor - a top-selling new drug in Canada that a U.S. drug official has named as one of five drugs that should be looked at more closely.

As of August 31, five more cases of rhabdomyolysis - a breakdown in muscle tissue that can lead to kidney damage - had been reported in Crestor users since Health Canada advised Canadians in June of a possible link between Crestor and the muscle-wasting condition.

From the Providence (RI) Journal:
Pharmacies ask Lynch to block imports
The Rhode Island Pharmacists Association and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores yesterday called on Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch to formally intervene in the state's attempt to license Canadian pharmacies to do business in Rhode Island.

The groups called the legislation passed this year "controversial and illegal" under federal law. They said Lynch should take action due to concerns about who would vouch for the safety and efficacy of any imported medication.

The state Department of Health is drafting regulations to put the licensing law into effect early next year, but a top health official has said the state expects the matter to be challenged in court before that.

From the Pawtucket Times:
Lynch calls on FDA for clear drug regulations
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is "shirking its responsibilities" by failing to adopt regulations to allow the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada as Congress has directed it to, Attorney General Patrick Lynch said Thursday.

"Congress already passed legislation saying that they should move on it," Lynch said. "They are putting it off on the states. It puts everyone in an awkward position. It puts people at risk. We need regulations."

From the Boston Globe:
Novartis CEO: Easing rules on drug imports may loom
Novartis AG chief executive Daniel Vasella yesterday said that he ''wouldn't be surprised" if US regulators ease rules limiting the importation of cheaper drugs from Canada, but cautioned that would damage the industry's financial footing and wouldn't help patients much.

Speaking to a luncheon sponsored by the Boston College Chief Executives' Club at the Boston Harbor Hotel, Vasella, head of the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, echoed the concerns of other drug executives who worry that proposals in Washington might scare away investors.

From Turn to 10 (RI):
AG Won't Issue Legal Opinion On Drug Imports
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said he won't issue an advisory opinion on the legality of importing prescription drugs from Canada as the Rhode Island Pharmacists' Association had asked him to do.

Lynch said he cannot issue advisory opinions in response to requests from private groups -- only in answer to requests from government agencies.

From the National Post:
Report reveals internet drug transgressions
Internet pharmacies were improperly shipping heat-sensitive drugs, filling rubber-stamped prescriptions, and acting as wholesalers to other stores without a licence, Health Canada revealed yesterday after inspecting a small sample of the mail-order drug businesses.

It is the first look by the federal regulator at companies that sell as much $1- billion a year in medication at cheaper Canadian prices to Americans, and is likely to fuel controversy surrounding the booming industry.

From the Providence (RI) Journal:
Town eyes offering drugs from Canada for workers
In anticipation of contract negotiations with three labor unions in which health care will a key issue, town officials have been studying the option of buying prescription drugs from Canada for municipal employees.

Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said several Massachusetts communities are saving money that way, although he acknowledged that safety concerns and a shifting regulatory landscape may pose obstacles.

West Warwick spends more than $500,000 per year on employees' prescription drugs, Bauer said. Drugs often sell for substantially less in Canada because of government price controls.

From the Canadian Press:
Tracing Internet pharmacy co-signing a Sherlock Holmes job for regulators
It will take more than tough talk from politicians or changes to federal law to catch Canadian doctors who co-sign Internet pharmacy prescriptions, say medical and pharmacy watchdogs.

Regulatory bodies for doctors and pharmacists say tracking guilty doctors has become a frustrating, time-consuming Sherlock Holmes exercise that is further complicated by provincial laws and confidentiality rules. "The access to the information is severely restricted," said Dr. Bill Pope, registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba.

From CBC News:
Prescription drug shipments to be tagged electronically
Three large drug manufacturers in the United States say they plan to add radio transmitter tags to bottles of pills to prevent counterfeiting and theft.

The transmitters will be used on larger bottles sent from factories to pharmacies, not on the containers bought by consumers.

Purdue Pharma announced it will begin electronic tracking of shipments of OxyContin, a narcotic painkiller, to Wal-Mart and wholesaler H.D. Smith.