Canada warned U.S. imports may raise drug prices

A senior Canadian politician voiced concern on Wednesday that Americans buying cheaper prescription medicines from Canada could push up the drug prices north of the border.

"I worry about anything that would put upward pressure on the Canadian cost of drugs," Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara told Reuters on the sidelines of a federal-provincial health summit in Ottawa.

Two bills that would allow tens of millions of Americans to purchase lower priced medicines from Canada and overseas, via the Internet or by mail order, are before the U.S. Congress.

In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, both President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry have indicated they might allow the reimportation of U.S.-made prescription drugs from Canada.

Sorbara said Canadian officials have not addressed the issue in spite of his assessment that the national drugs distribution system was not designed with Internet pharmacies in mind.

Canada's provinces and territories spend about C$13 billion ($10 billion) a year on medicines purchased from multinational drug companies for Canada's 32 million residents, at regulated prices that are well below those in the United States.

Provincial premiers have been pushing for a national pharmacare plan to work in conjunction with the country's universal health-care system.

The provinces, which are responsible for delivering the country's health care, have also pressed Ottawa to sharply increase overall funding.

Prime Minister Paul Martin called the summit with the provincial premiers to come up with a plan to fix the overloaded public health-care system "for a generation", but both sides have speculated they may walking away without a deal.