Nevada drug importation program gets go-ahead

The state's attorney general sparked debate when he issued an opinion concluding that no drugs from Canada could be legally imported.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. Jan. 30, 2006.

Nevada physicians and lobbyists swayed the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy on Jan. 12 to approve a state importation program that allows residents to buy prescription drugs from Canada through a state-sponsored Web site, as long as the medications are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The groups overcame an opinion by state Attorney General George Chanos that would have gutted the program.

At the meeting, the Nevada State Medical Assn. reinforced its support of the law's provision for FDA approval, written by Sen. Joe Heck, DO, to ensure the safety and composition of Canadian drugs.

Physicians say the Nevada law has adequate safeguards. "Doctors want to see [the program] tried," said Larry Matheis, NSMA executive director. Other protections require the board to inspect the Canadian pharmacies, he added.

The program was created by a state law enacted last June. Confusion over the intent of the law's language requiring FDA approval of imported drugs loomed over the pharmacy board, which is responsible for licensing pharmacies. The panel sought clarification from Chanos.

He strictly interpreted the provision to mean that the FDA would have to approve the safety of imported medications, rather than simply requiring that drugs had gone through the agency's regular approval process.

At the Jan. 12 meeting, the board decided to proceed in spite of Chanos' nonbinding opinion.

Dr. Heck, an emergency physician at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, explained that his intent was that FDA-approved means that "the pill in the bottle is approved by the FDA for use in the U.S." He added that agency approval did not imply receiving the FDA's blessing for importation, knowing that would have doomed the program.