Canadian Drugs? No Thanks

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Most liberal legislators endorse the importation of lower priced Canadian drugs as a way to buy votes of seniors and the afflicted who vote with their pocketbook. The truth about Canadian drugs and Canadian healthcare, however, is far from pretty. Furthermore, the push to bring in these drugs reflects the same quest to beat down Big Pharma and free trade far more than it reflects genuine interest in cutting cost to consumers. If we save lots of money buying generics, will medicaire costs go down? No. We’ll still pay 1.45% out of our paycheck.

Canadian firms, though they provide a valuable service to the market, do not contain the rigorous QA/QC processes required by companies in the United States. Partly, these regulations exist to protect us. I know that in college I made aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) three times, but none of them were pure enough that I would consider taking the drugs. I know what unreacted precursors remain, and I’m not sure I want those floating around in my body. The QA/QC processes exist to reduce the incidence of counterindication, of complication, and of exogenous particulates getting in. We all know how badly received the lead-filled plastic toys were from China. Even if the FDA grants approval, it doesn’t mean the drug is good for us; consider dinitrophenol (Phen-Phen diet).

Drugs produced by Canadian firms, while cheaper, ultimately defeat the pharmaceutical industry. While working for a clinical reference laboratory a few years ago, the R&D section hid all their data at my workstation when Roche came to visit, because on a previous visit someone perpetrated industrial espionage and stole my employer’s data. When you buy a Canadian drug, you skirt the R&D process and rob the R&D company of the profits it deserves for its investment. Canadian drug firms don’t do much R&D. Since they are not governed by our patents, as fast as a Canadian can reproduce the chemical formula they can start making a generic version. Patents are there to protect the R&D investment, so buying from a Canadian discourages further drug development. Eventually, you might prevent development of the drug that might save your life.

People make a big deal about how Pharma disburses profits to favor the “greedy investors”. I’ve previously explained how any American who has a pension plan or mutual fund investment is among those investors they vilify. You share in the profits of Merck, Phizer, GSK, etc., so when they hurt because a Canadian firm undercut the price, your well-being in retirement takes a hit.

In conclusion, purchasing from the Canadians doesn’t benefit you as much as you think. At best, you probably break even. The politicians like the idea because they look like they’re getting things done and you reelect them. Canadians like the idea because they get to make lots of sales for low investment costs. You like the idea because you think you’re saving, but the money you lose and the lost research potential makes you out to be a loser in the end. A few months ago, a Canadian caller to Rush Limbaugh’s program summed it up beautifully: “Canadian healthcare is great as long as you don’t get sick.”

Codicil: As a graduate student, I once had research stolen by a collaborator from a Canadian university who published it as his own PhD thesis.