Floridians who save money by having prescriptions mailed from Canadian pharmacies have 11 days before a federal customs change that patient advocates say could stop those packages at the border.
Starting Oct. 22, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will end an exemption that has allowed low-value mail packages, prescription drugs among them, into the country without a customs broker, a bond or a formal entry filing, News 6 in Orlando reported Thursday. CBP has said the change is meant to protect tariff revenue and keep fentanyl and counterfeit goods out.
Canadian pharmacies and advocates for imported medicine read it differently. The Wall Street Journal reported, as cited by Medscape, that mailed medications will have to go through customs with a licensed broker and a financial guarantee, something few individual orders have ever faced.
Tim Smith of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, which certifies 51 online pharmacies, told Medscape his group has "been given no indication that there is going to be anything but enforcement." Medscape said the FDA, CBP and the federal health and homeland security departments did not answer its questions.
The price gap
Ken Hunter of the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation told News 6 that more than 4 million Americans order medicine from abroad each year.
He priced a three-month supply of the blood thinner Eliquis at about $565 from online Canadian pharmacies, compared with roughly $1,017 on Amazon and $1,029 through GoodRx, and warned that patients who stop taking blood thinners raise their risk of stroke and heart attack.
An Orlando glaucoma patient told the station her eye drops cost about $500 a bottle in the U.S., her insurance does not cover them, and buying from Canada cuts the cost by about 80%. Some Canadian pharmacies have told customers that orders placed after Oct. 9 may not arrive before the rule kicks in, the station reported.
