Overview
- Colorado's import plan, approved June 15, lists 20 specific medicines made by about 10 companies, including Ozempic and Eliquis, that the state says could be brought in from Canada at lower prices.
- State officials estimate the program could cut prices by 20 to 60 percent for those drugs and save roughly $46 million in lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs over three years.
- Before any shipments arrive, Colorado must find Canadian manufacturers or distributors willing to sell extra supply, set up a U.S. distribution chain, and test every batch as required by the FDA.
- Implementation faces a key constraint because Canadian regulators and makers can block exports that would create or worsen domestic shortages, and a prior FDA approval for Florida in 2024 has not produced any imports.
- The authorization rests on a federal pathway created by a 2020 rule and reinforced in 2021, and it adds to a wave of state proposals seeking workarounds to high U.S. drug prices while hospital pharmacy groups warn the approach may complicate pharmacy practice.