: U.S. Sues to Block Importing of Drugs That Allow Seniors Affordable Medications

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> U.S. Sues to Block Importing of Drugs

> From Associated Press

>

> NEW YORK The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday to shut down two

> companies operating storefronts that help senior citizens purchase cheaper

> prescription medicines from Canada.

>

> The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tulsa, Okla., charges that Rx

> Depot Inc. and its sister company, Rx of Canada LLC, violated federal law

> by causing the importation of Canadian prescription drugs. Under U.S. law,

> only pharmaceutical manufacturers are allowed to bring their medicines

into

> the country.

> Rx Depot President Carl Moore said he would fight the lawsuit, saying

> senior citizens on limited budgets need his service.

>

> Rx Depot and Rx of Canada have a combined total of 85 stores, 22 of which

> are owned by Moore and his son, Joe-Max, a veteran of the U.S. national

> soccer team.

>

> Customers bring prescriptions to the stores, which fax them with the

> customers' health information to a Canadian pharmacy. A doctor reviews

> them, the prescriptions are rewritten, and the pharmacy sends the drugs by

> mail to the customers, usually within two weeks, according to Fred Stoops,

> Moore's lawyer.

>

> The companies get a percentage of the prescription price, he said.

>

> Prescription medicines are up to 50% cheaper in Canada because of that

> government's price regulation.

>

> Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the judge assigned to the

> case could immediately grant the government's request to close the stores,

> but he said he didn't know whether that was probable.

>

> The lawsuit seeks to close all of the chains' stores and obtain financial

> relief for the plaintiffs, including restitution to customers.

>

> " People saved half the cost of the prescriptions. What damages could they

> be talking about? " Stoops said. " The logic of this case makes no sense. "

>

> Stoops said the companies are not breaking the law. He said that allowing

> only pharmaceutical manufacturers to import their products from abroad

> violates antitrust statutes. He also said people have the right to import

> drugs from Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

>

> The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Rx Depot in March in a letter

> to its Arkansas store that it was illegally importing drugs from Canada

and

> to quit or risk being shut down.

>

> Rx Depot not only refused, it expanded into more states, FDA Associate

> Commissioner William Hubbard said this week.

>

> Rx Depot and Rx of Canada operate storefront businesses in about 20

states.

> Pharmacy regulators in four states have attempted to close the companies'

> stores, but only Montana has succeeded.

>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drugsuit12sep12,1,52064

09.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

>