Blagojevich Wants Review of Drugs Made by Companies Limiting Supplies to Canada Gov. Rod Blagojevich today plans to announce that Illinois will remove from its preferred drug lists any brand-name drugs made by companies that threaten to limit supplies to Canada, if safe equivalents are available, a spokeswoman for Blagojevich said.  Five major drug companies have placed controls on their drug sales to Canadian pharmacies in trying to prevent their medications from being reimported and sold to consumers in the United States, spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said.  ``We're not going to stand by and let them muscle American consumers. The government is sending a message that wealthy drug companies can't play games at consumers' expense,'' Ottenhoff said.  Blagojevich commissioned a report that said Illinois would save as much as $91 million if state employees and retirees bought drugs from Canada, which is illegal.  Illinois spent $340 million on prescription drugs for its employees and retirees last fiscal year, a 15 percent increase from the previous year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration criticized that report for inflating savings and wrongly assuming Canadian health authorities can guarantee the safety of drugs sent to the United States. Brand-name drugs often cost less in Canada because of government price controls. The Associated Press has reported that its own survey of comparable U.S. and Canadian prices for 10 popular drugs found the Canadian prices were 33 percent to 80 percent cheaper.  The FDA and pharmaceutical companies warn that buying Canadian drugs presents significant potential health and safety risks. Blagojevich plans to instruct the advisory committees of 12 state healthcare programs, which establish the list of drugs that are covered by each program, to look for alternatives to replace drugs on their lists that are made by the five companies, Ottenhoff said.  The committees will make recommendations within 45 days to the state's two special advocates on prescription drugs, who will make final decisions on which drugs to replace, Ottenhoff said. This story originally came from Associated Press Chicago Tribune... Return to the Media Section

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