Canada “nowhere near” Internet pharmacy clampdown

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Canada said on Friday it was “nowhere near” deciding how to clamp down on Internet pharmacies that send cheap medicine to the United States, often without Canadian doctors having seen the patients.

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, who says the practice is immoral, is studying several options on how to restrict a trade worth around C$850 million ($710 million) a year.

“I’m nowhere near a decision,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Ottawa.

The cross-border business, which directly employs 4,000 people, has attracted the interest of U.S. governors, mayors and senators as a way of cutting burgeoning medical costs south of the border. Canada sets limits on how much pharmaceutical firms can charge for their drugs.

One option under consideration is a total ban on exports of price-controlled patented drugs. Others include:

- Banning sales to people who are not resident or present in Canada.

- Making it illegal for Canadian doctors to countersign prescriptions from U.S. doctors.

- Banning bulk exports of drugs.

- Creating a list of certain drugs whose export would be banned if shortages or potential shortages developed. 

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