The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Florida on Friday to launch a program to purchase drugs from Canada, aimed at allowing the southern state to reduce its residents' medical bills.
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The FDA clarified in a press release that the approval would only affect “certain prescribed drugs” as long as importing them from Canada “significantly reduces costs for American consumers without creating additional risk to public health.”
Specifically, the approval is granted for two years from receipt of the first drug shipment from Canada and requires regular reports from Florida health authorities on the program's progress.
Several other American states have made a similar request and could join Florida in creating such a program.
That's because the question of treatment costs is sensitive in the United States, where prescription drug costs for the same products are on average 2.5 times higher than in other developed countries.
American President Joe Biden had made lowering drug prices one of his major projects, ensuring that he wanted to compete “against Big Pharma,” a term that describes large pharmaceutical companies.
However, the approval granted by the FDA is a victory for one of its potential opponents, Florida Governor and candidate for the Republican nomination Ron DeSantis, who is considered one of the potential challengers to the big favorite on the Republican side, Donald Trump.
In early October, several major pharmaceutical companies, including Swedish-British AstraZeneca, Switzerland's Novartis and Denmark's Novo Nordisk, agreed to begin negotiations aimed at reducing the prices of ten drugs used to treat serious and commonly prescribed diseases.
These are treatments prescribed for blood clots, diabetes, heart problems, psoriasis and blood cancer.
Groups in the industry believe they have been forced into negotiations because of provisions under the major Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is known for its pro-energy transition measures but also includes numerous social reforms.
Several pharmaceutical companies have taken immediate legal action but have refused to take part in the negotiations, leaving them facing bitter consequences such as tax sanctions.
Novo Nordisk had called the government-imposed price control program “unconstitutional” and appealed against it.