Posted At The Globe and Mail

By: Steven Chase

OTTAWA -- Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh will announce plans this week to ban bulk exports of prescription drugs to the United States, federal sources say.

Bulk exports are not yet a problem for Canada but Ottawa is trying to forestall the problem in the face of several U.S. efforts that could pave the way for wholesale shipments to the United States.

Mr. Dosanjh also plans to put in place a more systematic drug-supply monitoring system in order to ensure that Ottawa has a good fix on when shortages are occurring.

The Health Minister will also announce steps to deal with Canadian doctors who co-sign prescriptions for U.S. customers.

Sources say he will discuss new regulations to constrain the practice of co-signing.

Mr. Dosanjh will announce Ottawa's intention to introduce enabling legislation supporting this strategy. But the legislation is not expected to be introduced before Parliament rises for the summer break.

Officials said that some details of the plan are still being worked out.

Worried that the growing cross-border sales could threaten Canada's supply of drugs, the parliamentary health committee in early June called for a ban on bulk exports of foreign-made pharmaceuticals.

A ban also would help Canada avoid retaliation from U.S. pharmaceutical companies that have warned they might stop shipping to Canada if drugs end up being mailed back to the United States.

Mr. Dosanjh announced this spring that he was considering a ban on bulk export of drugs that are deemed to be in short supply.

The U.S. government has generally ignored small personal pharmaceutical shipments to the United States but frowned on bulk shipments.

In recent years, a growing number of Americans have been ordering drugs from Canada through Internet pharmacies because the prices are lower.

In 2004, Americans bought an estimated $800-million (U.S.) in drugs from Canada.

But Canadian officials say there is the risk of an acceleration of exports if various U.S. measures to permit the import of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada succeed.

Last month, Democrats in Washington outlined a health-care agenda that will permit imports of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries, subject to safety regulations, and will give Medicare authority to negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers in the United States.

But Canadian pharmacists and doctors warned in May that developing U.S. plans to legalize the bulk importation of pharmaceuticals from Canada would cause drug shortages, increase the cost of medicine and reduce the number of professionals available to fill prescriptions.

They called on Ottawa to curb the exports before the supply of drugs on this side of the border is seriously affected.

Last November, Mr. Dosanjh said it is unethical and unprofessional for Canadian doctors to sign prescriptions for U.S. customers without seeing the patients themselves.

He asked for provincial colleges of physicians, which view the practice as unacceptable and have censured doctors for it, to crack down strongly on co-signers.