CanadaRx Sues Health Canada

It was recently noted (in a news report no longer available on the web site), that CanadaRx Corp (CanadaRx) has brought an action in the Federal Court of Canada to prevent Health Canada from inspecting its facility. Although Health Canada has taken the position that the proposed inspection was merely part of its program of random inspections of Internet pharmacies, CanadaRx claims that it was being penalized for selling its cheaper drugs to Americans. CanadaRx is one of the few Canadian Internet pharmacies not accredited by a professional regulatory and licensing college of pharmacists and which does not hire Canadian doctors to co-sign prescriptions. Instead, CanadaRx sells and delivers medicines to Americans, either directly or through their own doctor or pharmacist, based solely on the original prescription. Health Canada's position is that prescription drugs may only be sold in Canada pursuant to a prescription written by a health care professional licensed to practise medicine in Canada. CanadaRx has argued that this provision does not apply to it because it sells drugs to purchasers outside Canada, and that provincial regulations requiring drugs to be dispensed in accordance with a prescription signed by a doctor in Canada apply only to accredited pharmacies, which CanadaRx is not. No date has yet been set for the hearing, but it will be interesting to see if the complex issues involving the online and cross-border sale of drugs will be resolved by regulators and politicians without the intervention of the courts. For a related news story on a certification program being developed for Canadian online pharmacies, see: http://temagami.carleton.ca/jmc/cnews/07032003/n5.shtml. Summary by: Sue Diaz