“One goal of the Center is to encourage responsible use of pharmaceuticals through balanced, objective debate of benefits and risks,” observes CMUPE Director Patrick McKercher who, with Assistant Professors David Nau and Stephanie Taylor in the College’s Department of Social and Administrative Sciences, orchestrated the reimportation conference. “Drug reimportation falls into the category of pharmaceutical issues demanding objective debate. The purpose of the conference was to provide a forum to share policy research and wide-ranging perspectives related to reimportation of pharmaceuticals. We achieved that end.”

Taylor notes that academic pharmacists have a special role in tackling the tough question of whether Americans should be allowed to buy prescription drugs from outside the U.S.

“The topic of pharmaceutical reimportation has been at the fore of Congressional deliberations over Medicare prescription drug coverage,” Taylor says. “The social, political, and economic complexity of this issue has created a lot of misunderstanding. As academic pharmacists, we can help clarify some issues and help create consensus by bringing together researchers and experts from academia, policy centers, and stakeholder organizations and agencies.

“In the case of Michigan, we also have first-hand experience to draw upon. Because of the state’s proximity to Canada, American consumers frequently cross the U.S. border, here, to buy pharmaceuticals at discount prices in Canada.”

The conference attracted participants representing industry, U.S. and Canadian government agencies, pharmacy trade organizations, key U.S. Congressional committees, academic and non-academic researchers engaged in the economics of intellectual property, and experts in pharmaceutical distribution channels, policies, and practices.

Reimportation conference presentations may be viewed on the College Web site at: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/reimportationofpharmaceuticals/agenda. CMUPE and Managed Care Journal also will publish a supplement of presentations made during the two-day reimportation conference.

For more information about the conference proceedings publication, contact Pat McKercher at 734-647-8075 or pmckerch@umich.edu..