In testimony before the Department of Health and Human Services Drug Importation Task Force,
CVS/pharmacy Chairman, President and CEO Tom Ryan called on Congress and the Administration to quickly establish a means for consumers to legally and safely import prescription drugs. To do otherwise, he said, would be to ignore the millions of Americans who are forced to go outside the existing prescription drug system in the U.S., which is intended to ensure drug safety, because they cannot afford to buy drugs within the system.
"While many in our industry believe that importation is a fundamentally flawed concept and oppose it without exception, I have come to a slightly different view," Ryan said. "Simply put, there are too many patients our pharmacists never see because they cannot afford the drugs we dispense, and others who are unable to pay for a full regimen of medications because it soaks up so much of their disposable income."
For those reasons, Ryan said he supports a safe, legal system of importation that would include the bulk importation of medicines from Canada as well as other nations where safety and quality measures are similar to those in the United States and dispensed by licensed U.S. pharmacies.
Ryan added that if such a system were put in place, CVS/pharmacy would commit to playing an active role in providing access to imported drugs to consumers who need them.
Despite his support for importation, Ryan said he believes it should be viewed only as a temporary solution. In order to truly address the problem of skyrocketing drug costs for Americans, the existing global pricing model, under which identical drugs to those sold in the U.S. often cost far less in other countries due to government price controls. "The existing underlying global pricing model simply cannot be sustained," said Ryan.