Santa Monica, CA — The consumer group that sponsored “Rx Express” trains to Canada said today that the U.S. Custom announcement that it will no longer seize prescription drugs being shipped to the U.S. is not the solution that patients need.

“The U.S. should be importing Canadian drug policy, not Canadian drugs so seniors don’t have to cross the border or rely on fly-by-night internet pharmacies to buy their prescription drugs,” said Jerry Flanagan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR). “Canada cannot be America’s medicine cabinet and today’s announcement will not lower the cost of prescription drugs for most Americans.”

The Rx Express trips taking seniors to Canada to buy cheaper prescription drugs demonstrated the failure of U.S. politicians to make prescription drug’s available at reasonable prices in the U.S. FTCR called today’s announcement a “PR move” that fails to challenge the drug companies’ overcharging of American patients. According to FTCR, because today’s announcement is largely symbolic, politicians are not risking valuable campaign contributions from the drug industry this election season.

“The U.S. must adopt a national prescription drug bulk purchasing program that will make lower cost prescription drugs available at our local pharmacies,” said Flanagan.

Canada, like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, saves 30-80% and more off the cost of U.S. made drugs by negotiating bulk discounts on behalf of all patients.

To read more about the Rx Express, go to: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/healthcare/pr/?postId=213.

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The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is a non-profit and non-partisan public interest advocacy organization. For more information, visit us online at: http://www.ConsumerWatchdog.org.