FDA warns pharmacy supplying US city

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to CanaRx Services of Detroit, Michigan, which supplies the Massachusetts city of Springfield with prescription drugs from Canada under a unique voluntary program offered to enrollees in its employee and retiree health plans (Marketletter August 18).

In its letter, the agency tells the firm it considers its operations to be illegal and a risk to public health. CanaRx runs an Internet web site and mail operation that illegally cause the shipment of prescription drugs from a Canadian pharmacy in the USA, "subjecting Americans to risky imported drug products and making misleading assurances to consumers about the safety of its drugs," says the FDA.

"Firms like this should not continue to profit through illegal actions that put the health of the American public at risk," said FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan. "Our investigation has shown that CanaRx operates a drug purchasing arrangement that channels drugs through companies other than licensed pharmacies and does not consistently use shipping practices that ensure its drugs are safe and effective."