Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent years petitioning the federal government to let the Sunshine State import drugs directly from Canada. In January 2024, he got permission—and Florida became the first state to launch a prescription drug importation program.

The results haven’t been great. In fact, there haven’t been any results. Nearly five years after DeSantis first proposed his importation plan and a year after it took effect, Florida has not imported a single Canadian drug.

That may be a blessing in disguise.

Forbes absolutely on one.

It’s not worth upending America’s innovative, life-saving drug development ecosystem to secure very slight savings for a small patient population. It’s especially not worth it considering American patients already have access to plenty of affordable drugs.

…

No matter how you slice it, importing drugs from Canada just isn’t worth it—and Canada agrees.

When the Biden administration green-lit DeSantis’s plan, Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland said his office would “do everything in our power to make sure that another country cannot be given the ability to pillage our health system for its own benefit.”

Normally, I’m the type of guy who will read an article very carefully to see if I can detect the stench of AI. But this is so obviously written by a flesh-and-blood pharmaceutical PR guy.