Posted At Lasvegassun.com
BY : Associated Press
State Pharmacy Board members are reserving judgment on whether to go forward with a plan allowing Nevada residents to buy prescription drugs from Canada at reduced cost.
Attorney General George Chanos said last week that the program can't go forward because drugs imported from Canada don't meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards, which encompass more than just the chemical makeup of a drug.
"The Board of Pharmacy put a lot of effort into it to make it work, but it's been a bit muddled up," said Joe Kellogg, president of the seven-member panel. "We're just waiting for our counsel to explain it to us."
The attorney general's opinion, sought by this country's pharmaceutical industry, conflicts with a Legislative Counsel Bureau opinion stating that the program could be implemented while still complying with FDA regulations.
Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, sought the legislation. She plans to attend the board meeting to ask the panel to move forward based on the Legislature's legal opinion.
The discussion of the conflicting opinions will occur Jan. 12, when the board meets in Las Vegas to discuss the issue.
Board member Katie Craven said she had just received the attorney general's opinion and had yet to read it.
"My biggest concern is the patient safety issue," she said. "I want to make sure that if we do go through with this, if this is a go and the FDA is good with this, that it is safe for patients."
Board member Keith Macdonald said he too would wait to hear the discussion by the attorney general's office, Buckley and others before deciding whether to proceed.
Macdonald added he has no strong feelings one way or the other about the Canadian drug plan, sought by some lawmakers to provide cheaper prescription drugs to Nevadans with no health insurance.
Brand-name drugs range from 30 percent to 50 percent cheaper in Canada because they are sold under government price controls.
Eight states, several cities and the District of Columbia operate programs similar to the proposed Nevada program, in opposition to the Bush administration's stance that prescription drug imports can be unsafe.
