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FDA tries to dam flood of drugs from Canada
By JENNIFER LIBERTO When the FDA decided to flex its enforcement arm for the first time against a boomlet in storefront businesses that help Americans buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies, nearly a hundred choices across the nation lay before them. The Food and Drug Administration chose a heck of a kicker. Professional soccer player Joe-Max Moore, who has played twice in the World Cup, and his father, Charles Moore, own Rx Depot of Tulsa, Okla., which has 10 other locations, including a New Port Richey store that's scheduled to open Tuesday. Last week, a three-page letter from the FDA rolled off the Moores' fax machine. It accused them of violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The Moores are essentially aiding and abetting illegal drug activity, the letter asserted, when they help Americans purchase and import medicine from Canada. The Moores vow to fight the feds. "It's not just an attack on Rx Depot, it's an attack against hundreds of thousands of senior citizens who now have access to affordably priced drugs," Charles Moore said. Previously, the FDA and the Florida Department of Health have called these businesses illegal but let it go at that, while the pharmaceutical industry fumed that the gray-market imports were undercutting profits. Now the agencies are facing a more challenging battle than they would have just three months ago, when such stores numbered less than a dozen. About 40 of the stores have sprung up throughout Florida over the last three months, with 16 more under contract and on the way. At least nine discount drug stores have opened in the last seven weeks in Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Holiday, New Port Richey, Bayonet Point, Spring Hill and Temple Terrace. Stores in Tampa and Inverness are on the way. "They've become so popular because of the absence of a prescription drug plan in Medicare and the high cost of prescriptions forcing people to seek drugs outside the United States," said Marty Davis, Washington spokesman for the AARP, which does not condone these businesses but is lobbying Congress to approve a prescription drug plan for Medicare. The stores have taken names such as Drugbusters and BuyCanadianDiscountDrugs.com. County tax collectors have granted them an array of occupational licenses, such as "information retrieval services" and "clerical and stenographic services." The store owners aren't pharmacists, just middlemen making a profit by connecting frustrated seniors with Canadian drug stores. But the new owners proselytize that they are doing a community service, selling prescriptions discounted by 20 percent to 80 percent, thanks to Canada's weak dollar and its strong cap on health care prices. "Go ahead, you take me into court and tell me why I can't help these people," said Dave Trump, owner of Canada's Discount Drugs, which opened Monday in Holiday. The state health department has begun an inquiry into some of the stores. Last week, two Spring Hill store owners reported receiving a visit from a state investigator who, the store owners said, told them that Walgreens had filed a complaint against them with the Board of Pharmacy. The state investigator talked to store owners about making changes so that the stores wouldn't look like pharmacies, such as changing the business name, especially if it includes the word "drug." While the health deparment declined to comment on the complaint, Walgreen Co. spokesman Michael Polzin acknowledged that the Deerfield, Ill., company is not happy with these stores. Polzin said the complaint did not come from Walgreens' corporate office, but an employee might have filed it. He also noted that 60 percent of company sales are from its pharmacies, which directly compete with stores selling Canadian prescriptions. "These pharmacies are operating illegally, and the FDA needs to decide whether they're going to enforce these regulations or let these types of pharmacies operate, so we can know how we need to compete," Polzin said. "Right now, it's not a level playing field." Several Floridians shopping at the Canada discount stores said they didn't think the government had the right to interfere with their ability to buy cheaper prescriptions. "I think the government should keep their noses out of this or make pharmaceutical companies in the United States lower their prices on medications," said Pam Little, 56, of Weeki Wachee, who was browsing prices at Canada Drugs in Spring Hill for a drug her doctor prescribed to lower her blood pressure . However, a way to legalize some of these stores may be in the works. A Canadian pharmacy that fills prescriptions for some of the stores has applied to be licensed by Florida's Board of Pharmacy. If a Canadian company is approved as a licensed pharmacy in Florida, stores that contract with the pharmacy would also be considered legal in the state's eyes, health department spokesman William Parizek said. But the state has denied Canadian applications before, said Earl Turow, whose Discount Drugs of Canada is the largest franchiser of the storefront prescription operations. In Oklahoma, Rx Depot owners have hired attorneys to gear up for a fight against the FDA. Joe-Max Moore got the idea to start the company after browsing Canadian online pharmacies in search of the anti-estrogen drug Tamoxifen for his mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. The drug ran $45 online compared to $390 at local Tulsa pharmacies, his father said. "We've got a big fight on our hands," the elder Moore said. "But we're competitive guys and we're getting plenty of money and support to fight this."
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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