Big Pharma continues to play a heavy hand in blocking Americans’ access to safe and affordable prescription medications, as anyone can see in news headlines across the country each day. We will continue fighting for your right to safe and affordable prescription drugs. Sharing stories of the challenges securing safe and affordable prescription drugs is critical to our efforts. If you would like to share your story, please visit our tell your story page.
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Legislative Update
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced The Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2017 (S.92) to allow personal prescription importation of 90-day supplies of daily prescription medications from approved Canadian pharmacies with a valid prescription.
Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) signed on as co-sponsors in support of Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) prescription drug importation bill.
If one of these Senators is your elected official, please send him a thank you note for championing this critical and timely legislation by visiting this page on our website.
We thank our legislative champions for fighting for safe and affordable access to prescription medications!
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In the News
New York Times: How to Stop Price Gouging
In this New York Times op-ed, Tim Wu challenges theAdministrationto do something about the high cost of drugs. The op-ed – How to Stop Price Gouging – cuts to the proverbial high cost of prescription medications chaseby stating, “The industry’s “safety” warnings are more politics than reality.”
He goes on to point out the “remedy” by allowing importation, as he states, “Doing this would not only save Americans a lot of money but also deflate the incentive to engage in abusive pricing in the first place.”
Wu also shares the reality that 25 percent or more of drugs labeled American-made are manufactured in other countries in plants that are inspected by the FDA. These drugs are then shipped to the U.S., Canada and other countries.
Read the full op-ed here.
Bloomberg: Drug Lobby Getting Touchy About Drug Prices
Bloomberg Columnist Joe Nocera compares the drug lobby to big tobacco and Wall Street crooks who drove the country into a recession. The difference – he explains – is that BigPharma makes life-saving cures and treatments, but they charge prices that are often unaffordable for many Americans.
But the cost of those drugs — $100,000 for a cancer drug that extends life an average of six months, a low-cost generic that suddenly costs 10 times more, a new drug with a price tag so high that insurance companies balk at paying it — has angered and frightened Americans.
Read the full op-ed here.
Chicago Tribune: Let’s Address the High Cost of Prescription Drugs
The Chicago Tribune recently published an op-ed from Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-8th) onthe rising cost of prescription drugs.
As he writes, “A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll even found that 60 percent of Americans — including a majority of Republicans – think lowering prescription drug prices should be a top priority for President Donald Trump and Congress.”
He highlights a patient whose co-pays for his multiple myeloma drugs have increased by 500 percent over five years. While the pharmaceutical company that makes the drughas benefitted from a 132 percent increase in revenue from the drug.
Read the full op-ed here.
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Personal Story: Carole, Northern Wisconsin
Like many Americans, Carole struggles to pay the high cost of her prescription medication. She orders her Advair inhaler from Canada, even though the price is comparable to her insurance plan. Despite her insurance, Carole would still have a $400 copay. This copay keeps the price of her inhaler three times the price of the inhaler that she orders from a licensed and verified online pharmacy in Canada.
Carole’s physical health is very good as long as she takes her asthma medications regularly.
In addition, Carole’s husband takes several drugs costing hundreds of dollars each month and they have had challenges getting his medications as well.
As Carole shares, “I think it is important that we all do our part in seeing that people in this country get appropriate, affordable health care and medications.”
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Take Action – We would love to hear from you!
We are currently looking for personal stories to highlight the need for access to affordable and safe prescription medications to policy makers and thought leaders who can make a difference.
Please share your story by visiting this link.
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Did You Know? 72 percent of Americans are in favor of allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs imported from Canada (Kaiser Family Foundation, August 2015)
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About: The Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation (CPPI) is a national nonprofit patient organization that advocates for Americans to access to safe, affordable prescription medications from Canada for personal use. Tens of millions of Americans – especially the elderly and others on fixed incomes – struggle to pay the extremely high price of prescription medications in the U.S. We are here to be their voice.
Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation
1220 L Street NW
Suite 100
Washington, DC 20005
202-765-3290
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