Campaign targets Pfizer's drug-pricing system
By Geraldine Ryerson-Cruz
Bloomberg News Service
Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, will be the target of a Minnesota senior-citizen group's campaign to persuade the company to resume supplying Canadian pharmacies that sell cheaper drugs to U.S. consumers.
The 25,000-member Minnesota Senior Federation plans to organize "10 days of Outrage," including a consumer boycott, before Pfizer's annual shareholder meeting on April 22, Peter Wyckoff, the group's director, said in a telephone interview from St. Paul. The organization will outline the plans Monday with partner groups in 10 states.
The campaign supports efforts by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the state's pension fund to persuade other Pfizer shareholders that the company should change its drug-pricing system. Pfizer has stopped supplying some Canadian distributors and pharmacies that sell drugs to the United States.
Americans spent about $1.1 billion last year on medicines from Canada, where the government controls prices.
"It looks like a good deal, but importing from Canada puts U.S. patients at risk to counterfeit or substandard products," Pfizer spokesman Jack Cox said in a telephone interview.
Canada counts for 2 percent of Pfizer's global market while the United States is more than 40 percent, so "there is no way Canada can supply the U.S.," he said.
The Minnesota Senior Federation runs a Web site Pawlenty set up to help guide residents to Canadian pharmacies the state has screened. One of the pharmacies the site recommends is among those Pfizer cut off.
At least half of U.S. states are considering plans to buy drugs from Canada for their employees to save money or to help residents make purchases. Drugmakers and the Food and Drug Administration have said they oppose the practice.
U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley Thursday introduced legislation that would legalize the drug imports, which are prohibited. The FDA hasn't enforced the law for people buying individual quantities. Grassley's bill is one of at least three being developed in Congress to legalize the practice.
Joshua Boger, chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said yesterday that growth in cheap Canadian drug imports threatens financing for U.S. biotechnology companies because it casts doubt on future profit for investors.
Minnesota's Pawlenty, who is chairman of the state's pension fund, said last month the group wants Pfizer and other drugmakers to use policies that don't rely disproportionately on charging higher prices in the United States, and to stop limiting supplies to Canada. The Minnesota State Board of Investment holds more than $470 million worth of Pfizer's stock.
