Hardly anyone likes the Trump administration's importation plan

That’s my takeaway after I combed through more than 1,000 comments on the proposal, which were due to federal regulators yesterday.

In case you forgot, the Trump administration recently unveiled its idea for how states, partnering with drug distributors, could import cheaper drugs from Canada. The idea isn’t likely to become reality for months, if not years, but that didn’t dissuade seemingly everyone in the drug supply chain from trashing the concept.

Pharmacists, sheriffs, drug makers, and drug industry-aligned conservative groups all harshly criticized the idea. Some interesting voices weighed in, too: Wholesalers said Trump’s plan would undermine drug safety protections, Canadians groused that the plan would exacerbate their own issues with drug shortages, and more than 900 concerned citizens sent in form letters organized by the anti-importation group Partnership for Safe Medicines. 

A related administration plan that would allow drug makers to import drugs that were previously slated for sale in other countries got negative marks, too. PhRMA said the idea alone would not lead to lower drug prices, although they signaled they support elements of the policy. Novartis worried that the policy could put patients at risk, and Genentech pointed out a number of operational glitches in the plan. The generics lobby, the Association for Accessible Medicines, also warned branded companies could use it as a way to block lower cost generics and biosimilars from gaining a foothold in the U.S. market.