Maine drug importation law overturned

A US federal judge has invalidated a law in Maine that allows people in the state to import prescription medicines.

The controversial law - first enacted two years ago in a bid to cut the state's medicines bill - has been criticised for allegedly exposing Maine residents to counterfeit medicines supplied by dubious overseas pharmacies.

Maine was the first US state to allow mail-order pharmaceutical imports from online pharmacies operating in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand in 2013, on the grounds that the regulatory regimes in these countries were deemed equivalent to the US. However, the legislation has been locked in legal disputes ever since, with opponents claiming that buying drugs over the Internet was inherently insecure.

Maine's chief judge - Nancy Torresen - upheld a motion brought by the Maine Pharmacy Association, Maine Society of Health System Pharmacists and the Retail Association of Maine to make the importation of medications from overseas illegal, on the grounds that the practice "violates federal laws which were established to protect the public from unsafe medications."

"From the beginning, we raised significant concerns about threats to public safety by the illegal importation of prescription drugs into Maine through foreign-based brokers and other entities," commented the plaintiffs in a joint statement.

"The federal government strictly limits importation of pharmaceuticals for personal use, yet the Maine law looked to circumvent this secure drug-supply system."

Last year, the Board of Pharmacy asked the state to launch a formal investigation into Canada Drug Center, an Internet pharmacy allegedly supplied medicines sourced from Turkey, India, and Mauritius rather than the approved countries.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) representing the drug industry also sued Maine over the law, but was dismissed as a plaintiff last year.

Maine Attorney General Janet Mills - who was named as a defendant in the action - said in a statement that the US Congress - as well as the FDA - should "re-examine their policy towards importation of prescription drugs," but did not indicate whether the state would appeal the decision.

"Importation is simply bad policy," commented Marv Shepherd, president of the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), which welcomed the ruling.

"The easiest way for dangerous and potentially deadly counterfeit medicines to infiltrate our secure supply chain is when they are purchased from illegal and unregulated overseas online pharmacies."

"While the state of Maine may have had good intentions, the reality is the law puts patients' health at risk, as the FDA and the State of Maine cannot guarantee the safety of any medicines that are bought outside the US," added Shepherd.