Rx Depot asks court to lift ban on importing drugs from Canada

Saturday, May 8th 2004, 6:47 am

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) -- An Oklahoma company that was shut down for helping Americans buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada asked a federal appeals court Friday to let it resume operations.

Rx Depot Inc. also asked the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments in the case because of the "significant public policy implications" for the elderly and poor.

A federal judge in Oklahoma ordered the company to close its 85 storefronts in November, ruling it was violating a federal law that allows only manufacturers to bring their drugs back into the United States.

The judge acted at the request of the Food and Drug Administration.

Government lawyers said the company posed a public health risk because it helped customers illegally reimport U.S.-made prescription drugs.

Tulsa, Okla.-based Rx Depot told the 10th Circuit the FDA did not prove it was violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

The company also accused the government of enforcing the law selectively, saying other entities provide the same services, including Web sites, companies that transport people across the border to buy drugs and members of Congress who help individual constituents get drugs in Canada.

The filing did not name them.

The company, which operated in 25 states, had faxed prescriptions and patients' medical histories to Canadian pharmacies, which then sent the drugs directly to patients.

Government price controls in Canada make medicines up to 50 percent cheaper there than in the United States.