Drug costs panel prefers generic option
1-Aug-2006: Duluth officials won't rely heavily on imported prescription drugs from Canada or other countries to ease the financial pains of retiree health-care costs.
Using American-made generic drugs will more easily cut costs, a special committee has concluded.
On average, the city paid for generic prescriptions about one-sixth the cost of brand-name drugs, said University of Minnesota Duluth School of Pharmacy Chairman Randall Seifert.
One of 14 recommendations from a City Council-appointed task force on retiree health care was a target of 25 percent savings, or $800,000, on prescription drugs. The task force, led by former Minnesota Power executive Arend Sandbulte, suggested ways to solve a $301 million liability.
"Importation of prescription drugs should begin," the task force report said, although "buying local should always be considered."
Reimportation would follow the lead of a program started by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
But Gary Meier, city human resources director and a member of the administration's seven-member drug reimportation committee, said if employees use more generics -- between 50 and 65 percent of the time, for example -- the city would easily save the recommended amount.
Under suggestions from the drug reimportation committee, prescriptions would be reimported if generics aren't available. Users would pay more of the cost for brand-name drugs if they decide not to use a cheaper alternative. And alternative therapies also should be explored.
For example, generic Zocor could replace brand-name Lipitor for those with cholesterol troubles. And users need to ask themselves whether they need certain medications like sleeping pills, which are being heavily advertised, Meier said.
Pawlenty's reimportation program, MinnesotaRxConnect.com, technically runs afoul of U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules, which states American-made drugs can't be reimported.
But FDA policy allows shipments for "personal use."
According to Minnesota Advantage Meds, a program for state employees, about 2 percent of recent shipments were seized by authorities. If a shipment is stopped, users are asked to call the Total Care Pharmacy in Calgary, Alberta, to send another shipment, according to information at advantage-meds.com.
"Most people who have experienced it once haven't experienced it again," said Paul Strebe, a policy analyst for the Department of Employee Relations. "It's not disrupting our program enough so far."
Meanwhile, participation in the state program has dwindled.
Last month, sales through MinnesotaRxConnect.com amounted to $30,417, or about one-fifth of the all-time high set in January 2005.
New Medicare prescription benefits may have shifted seniors away from the reimports, according to Minnesota Department of Human Services spokeswoman Karen Smigielski. The state employee program has averaged monthly sales of more than $100,000 since November 2004.
As trademarks on more brand-name prescriptions expire over the next five years -- most recently Zoloft, Paxil and Prilosec, for example -- more generics will be available for less money, pharmacist Seifert said.
American-made generics are a safer bet, Siefert said, because there is a problem with counterfeiting worldwide. Legislation moving through Congress might further regulate the drugs, he said.
Strebe said the program offers drugs from other countries because they're made in other countries. Lipitor is produced in Ireland, for example, he said.
"They're just packaged differently," Strebe said. "This is an optional program. We're not trying to kill employees."
A representative for Canadian prescription exporters could not be reached for comment.
Source: Duluth News tribune
