US to import short-supply cancer drug from India

[FarCenter]

US health authorities said Tuesday they will import a drug to treat ovarian, bone marrow and AIDS-related skin cancer from India in order to ward off a worrying shortage.

"Lipodox will be imported as an alternative to Doxil," the US Food and Drug Administration said in a statement, noting that a temporary deal has been made with Sun Pharma Global FZE in India to supply US patients with the drug.

"Temporary importation of unapproved foreign drugs is considered in rare cases when there is a shortage of an approved drug that is critical to patients and the shortage cannot be resolved in a timely fashion with FDA-approved drugs."

http://www.france24.com/en/20120221-us-import-short-supply-cancer-drug-india

[GodlessBiker]

1. I see. So Canadian drugs are unsafe while Indian drugs are safe.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. +1000 Just what I was going to point out. Or is it that us common people

can't be trusted to buy our own drugs at a reduced price?

[FarCenter]

4. That's pretty much it - the drug companies import the chemicals from India and China, package here.

[denverbill]

3. No, no, you've got it all wrong.

It's perfectly safe for drugs to be manufactured anywhere on earth, even in China where they can't make baby formula without adding melamine. The grave danger is in allowing those products to be resold by dangerous unregulated Canadian pharmacies at greatly reduced prices. The safety of American drug company profits is of paramount importance.

[izquierdista]

5. Wouldn't it be cheaper to fly all the patients to India?

Jus' askin'

[FarCenter]

6. Probably - google "medical tourism"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism