Bringing Prescription Drugs Into Canada from the US

[activeStick]

My dad takes a certain drug that his doctor said is much cheaper in the US to purchase compared to Canada (something like $1 a pill vs. $15).

The doctor provided the drug name and some places just over the BC border where he could get the drugs shipped to and he could pick them up and drive them back over for his personal use.

I'm looking into specific laws around this, but I must be looking at the wrong places because I can only see this being allowed for commercial entities or personal use if you are travelling to Canada as a visitor.

Does anyone have experience around doing this?

[Finger Cookin]

A quick google suggests that a single course treatment/90 day supply (whichever is less) can be brought back home by Canadian residents provided it is for personal use (or for use by a person with whom they are travelling) and the prescription is in its original retail or hospital/pharmacy dispensed packaging.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-cana...ions-0084.html

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

A quick google suggests that a single course treatment/90 day supply (whichever is less) can be brought back home by Canadian residents provided it is for personal use (or for use by a person with whom they are travelling) and the prescription is in its original retail or hospital/pharmacy dispensed packaging.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-cana...ions-0084.html

Thanks. I visited that page but must've misread the Personal Use section.

Canadian Resident:

Importations of prescription drugs by Canadian residents are not permitted by mail or courier.#

So as not to interrupt a course of treatment, Health Canada may use enforcement discretion to permit a Canadians returning from abroad to bring with them on their person a single course of treatment or a 90-day supply based on the directions for use, whichever is less, of a prescription drug.#

The drug must be for the individual's own personal use or the use of a person for whom they are responsible and with whom they are travelling.#

The drug must be in one of the following: Hospital or pharmacy dispensed packaging; Original retail packaging; or have the original label affixed to it which clearly indicates what the health product is and what it contains.

[activeStick]

As a side note, I guess I've been ignorant this whole time, but I was surprised that a drug would be cheaper in the US than Canada given our system is subsidized. Does anyone know why this is the case?

[afc wimbledon]

from years of working in a correctional center I would advise your dad to decant the pills into a condom and choose a good water based lube

[Cheese]

Why not just bring a Canadian prescription bottle and refill that? No fuss no muss.

[Northendzone]

A few years ago I forgot to bring my high blood pressure meds with me on a trip to Seattle. I stopped at a Safeway in standpoint as my script was at my local Safeway, and I could not get it filled. I was told even if I had the script from my doctor I could not get it filled unless my doctor was listened in BC. I eventually found a sympathetic pharmacist in Seattle who hooked me up with a short term supply as I had the drug name and din in my phone. My guess is you may run into a similar situation.

As for the price of drugs, the drug pricing marketplace is more complicated than the pricing relationship between a liter of gas and a barrel of oil.

Drugs like humira which sell for hundreds here in Canada, sell for $15 in India.

[Minnie]

Humira runs a just a little more than a few hundred lol. Couple and a half thousand or more. We won't even start talking about Remicade's cost, as an infusion med compared to the injectables.

[snootchiebootchies]

The drug in question could be a generic. There are less generic drug manufacturers in Canada than the US, so there is less price competition. The competition for generic drugs in the US can be fierce depending on the drug.

Where US pays through the nose compared to Canada are drugs that are still within their market exclusivity period, and thus the manufacturer can set the price to whatever the US market will bear (while Canada can set limits). Also, the practice of pharmaceutical companies buying existing drugs from another company and then boosting their prices (like in the Shkreli and Mylan cases) is not permitted in Canada.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Originally Posted by Minnie

Humira runs a just a little more than a few hundred lol. Couple and a half thousand or more. We won't even start talking about Remicade's cost, as an infusion med compared to the injectables.

Seeing how I spent almost 2 grand a box every 4 weeks, yeah humira is a bit more than a couple hundred :P.

Thankfully I have insurance that covers pretty much all of it.

[Street Pharmacist]

I think I can shed some light. Prescription prices in the States are not regulated, so really high volume drugs and some others (mainly Viagra which is much cheaper there and is approx $15 a pill here hint hint) are sometimes cheaper. The vast majority of the time drugs are orders of magnitude cheaper here.

The legality of transport across the border I don't know much about, but the 90 day rule seems correct for what that's worth.

The big issue will be access. Prescription drug regulations vary by state, but technically, a prescription from Canada is not legally valid in the US and vice versa. How much money your Dad saves will al depend on how much Viagra he brings across the border because he'll have to pay to see an American Dr.