Imported Drugs a Growing Problem for US Pharma Industry

More US consumers are buying prescription drugs from abroad, often over the Internet, according to a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal Online / Harris Interactive Health-Care. The survey also warns of the dangers for US companies of being seen to fight this.

7% of adults say they have bought prescription drugs from a pharmacy in Canada or another country - by going there, on the Internet or by mail - up from 5% last November. The more money people spend out of pocket on drugs, the more likely they are to shop abroad - fully 16% of those with out-of-pocket costs for drugs of over $1,000 a year have shopped abroad.

The proportion saying that they would like to shop abroad for prescription drugs if they were able to do so has increased from 40% to 48% now, including 53% of those with annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs of over $1,000.

Fully 77% of the public thinks it is unreasonable - and 55% 'very unreasonable' - for pharmaceutical companies to help 'make it impossible for Canadian pharmacies to sell drugs over the Internet'.

'This is a very ugly issue for the pharmaceutical industry', said Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of The Harris Poll(r) at Harris Interactive. 'As importation of drugs grows - and it looks set to grow a lot more - drug companies run a big risk of making more enemies as they fight to prevent importation... several pharmaceutical companies appear to be doing this, and it seems likely that this will further damage the already battered reputation of the industry'.

2,138 adults were surveyed nationwide online between September 16 and 18.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

• Harris Interactive Inc.
• All news
• MrWeb info