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"I've asked the best and brightest
minds from the various areas of state government that would be
involved in a drug importation plan to go see how the industry works
in Canada. We want to help taxpayers and consumers in Illinois save
money on prescription drugs, but we want to make sure we can do it
safely and effectively," said Blagojevich.
The state of Illinois spends more than
$340 million a year to provide prescription medications to its
230,000 retirees and employees and $1.8 billion for all its health
care programs combined.
In mid-September, Blagojevich asked the
special advocates -- Ram Kamath, Pharm.D., and Scott McKibbin -- to
study how much the state could save and what the legal and technical
challenges might be if the state allowed its employees to buy drugs
from Canada.
In addition to the special advocates,
the Illinois delegation includes Dr. Eric Whitaker, director of the
Department of Public Health and the state's chief medical officer;
Jonathan Dopkeen, Ph.D., assistant director of Public Health; Ron
Gottrich, R.Ph., M.S., pharmacist with the Department of Public
Health; Daniel Kelber, J.D., legal counsel, Department of
Professional Regulations; Jay Bogdan, J.D., R.Ph., prosecutor,
Department of Professional Regulations; Yashwant Amin, R.Ph., chief
compliance coordinator, Pharmacy Section, Department of Professional
Regulations; Rachelle Anders, J.D., Policy Office; Sheri Klintworth,
J.D., counsel, Office of the Governor; and Tom Londrigan, J.D.,
counsel, Office of the Governor.
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column in this article] |
The delegation arrived on Tuesday
evening in Windsor, Ontario, to meet with pharmacists and executives
from CanaRx, the company that administers the drug importation
program for the city of Springfield, Mass. On Wednesday, the group
will visit First Medical Pharmacy in Windsor, a CanaRx retail
pharmacy that primarily serves Canadian consumers but does
approximately 20 percent of its business with American consumers. On
Thursday the delegation will meet with several mail-order and online
pharmacies in Winnipeg, Manitoba, including CanAmerican Drugs, Fine
Line Solutions and Canada Drugs, before traveling to Toronto,
Ontario, to meet with ADV-Care, the pharmacy that supplies the
Illinois Health Alliance. The delegation returns to Illinois on
Friday.
In addition to their fact-finding
efforts in Canada, the advocates are reaching out to pharmaceutical
manufacturers, Illinois pharmacists, the Food and Drug
Administration, and consumer groups.
Their report
will be issued before the end of October.
[Illinois
Government News Network
news release] |
