Wayne Winegarden, PhD, on Downside of Importing Drugs From Canada

Earlier this year, President Trump signed 4 executive orders designed to lower the cost of prescription drugs. One of those orders allows for insulins and other medications, such as biologics, to be imported from countries like Canada, where the same products sold in the United States are sold at lower prices. Since the signing, the FDA has officially adopted a final rule to implement the plans.

The rule, dubbed as the Safe Importation Action Plan, permits states and indigenous tribes as well as some pharmacies and wholesalers permission to submit importation program proposals to the FDA for review and authorization. Although HHS and federal officials believe the plan has real potential to lower costs, some experts see the plan as both ineffective and possibly dangerous.

We sat down with Wayne Winegarden, PhD, a senior fellow in business and economics at the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and director of PRI's Center for Medical Economics and Innovation, to discuss why this plan is so controversial and what steps should be taken instead to help lower drug costs.

To read more on Wayne’s thoughts of this plan, click here.

To learn more about the Safe Importation Action Plan, click here.

To learn more about President Trump’s executive orders, click here.