{"id":644524,"date":"2026-06-18T02:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644524\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T02:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:16:08","slug":"with-fda-backing-colorado-says-state-will-save-money-by-importing-drugs-from-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644524\/","title":{"rendered":"With FDA backing, Colorado says state will save money by importing drugs from Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The FDA approved Colorado\u2019s plan on Monday and the state released a list of 20 specific drugs approved for import, including Ozempic.Joe Raedle\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Colorado has become the second American state to win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada.<\/p>\n

Florida was the first state to be approved <\/a>for this program by the FDA, back in 2024, which led to Health Canada warnings that it could cause domestic shortages. <\/p>\n

But over the following two years, no drugs<\/a> were actually shipped through the program and drug companies said they had not been working with Florida\u2019s state government.<\/p>\n

U.S. FDA says it met with states interested in importing cheaper drugs from Canada<\/a><\/p>\n

The FDA approved Colorado\u2019s plan on Monday and the state released a list of 20 specific drugs approved for import, including the blockbuster Type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail asked five companies who make drugs on the list, along with two industry associations, whether they were collaborating with Colorado\u2019s state government on its plan. The companies and groups generally did not respond or declined to say.<\/p>\n

Innovative Medicines Canada, the main lobby group for patented drug makers, had told The Globe in February that it was not aware of any companies working with Florida.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the group said it was up to individual companies to say if they were collaborating with Colorado and suggested such a program would not cause problems for Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperience in comparable jurisdictions \u2212 such as Florida \u2212 indicates that similar measures have not resulted in significant supply diversion,\u201d spokesperson Erin Polka said in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

She said the Colorado plan was an example of Canada\u2019s pharmaceutical pricing framework coming under global scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Angelique Berg, chief executive officer of Vital, a group that represents drug manufacturers and distributors, said Canada\u2019s pharmaceutical supply chain is built for its domestic supply chain and cannot supply a country \u2212 the U.S. \u2212 that is nearly nine times as big.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven Canada\u2019s supply constraints, regulatory safeguards, and the lack of participation from Canadian manufacturers and distributors, Vital believes it is highly unlikely that Colorado\u2019s program will result in meaningful or sustained exports of Canadian prescription medicines,\u201d Ms. Berg said in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

The pharmaceutical industry may be affected by renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, and Ottawa struck a task force<\/a> this spring to offer ideas to make Canada a more attractive market for international pharmaceutical companies.<\/p>\n

The industry has also been under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, which has pursued a most-favoured nation policy<\/a> for pharmaceuticals to address the major disparities between U.S. prices and those in other jurisdictions by driving global prices higher and American prices lower. For example, U.S. list prices are generally more than three times the price in Canada for the same medication.<\/p>\n

Canada and other countries generally have lower prices because they have more government price controls, including group negotiations between public drug plans and drug makers when new products come to market.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Trump administration has supported the FDA program that allows states to import drugs from Canada, even though they are generally the same products made from the same factories as the ones already available in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The list of drugs Colorado has been approved to import includes Ozempic from Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk, which makes the global supply of its drug at factories in Denmark and North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Colorado would normally pay US$502.59 for a four-week supply of the 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg formulations, according to the list, but would instead pay US$275.13 if imported from Canada, a 45-per-cent discount. <\/p>\n

(Ontario\u2019s online database for drugs covered by public health insurance lists the price of Ozempic at $227.94. for a four-week supply regardless of dose.) <\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk spokesperson Kate Hanna said the company does not want its products that are intended for sale in Canada to be diverted elsewhere, but she declined to say if the company was working with Colorado\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk has made submissions to parliamentary committees arguing for the need for all provinces to restrict cross-border pharmacy sales.<\/p>\n

Generic versions of Ozempic, made with the active ingredient semaglutide, became legal in Canada this year and have begun to appear on pharmacy shelves<\/a>, but Colorado\u2019s list does not specify any generic products.<\/p>\n

How will cheaper versions of Ozempic tip the scales?<\/a><\/p>\n

Colorado says it hopes to save US$46-million in state drug costs if things go to plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow more than ever, we need to call on drug manufacturers to step up to the plate and stop ripping off consumers with inflated drug costs by putting profits over people,\u201d Governor Jared Polis said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Health Canada said Wednesday that under the country\u2019s Food and Drug Regulations, some drugs intended for Canada cannot be sold abroad if doing so would cause or worsen a shortage in Canada. The regulator said businesses that hold a licence to make or distribute drugs and want to export the products must demonstrate to Health Canada that doing so would not cause a shortage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The FDA approved Colorado\u2019s plan on Monday and the state released a list…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[102,6591,41781,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-644524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-ne-i","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}