Pfizer has upped the ante in the drug reimportation battle -- cutting off shipments to two of the 15 prescription drug wholesalers in Canada. It's the first drug maker to escalate the drug embargo to the wholesale level.
Canadians reacted angrily and said the black-listing of Canadian pharmacies and, now, distributors threatens to cause a crisis in Canadian health care, already struggling with budget problems.
"If this shutdown spreads, we could be in real trouble," said David McKay, president of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association. MacKay said Pfizer is "literally dictating the terms by which these products can be sold by Canadian pharmacies."
If Pfizer ends supplies to other wholesalers in Canada, the nation "will be held hostage and the government will be on Pfizer like a pit bull on a poodle," McKay said.
Pfizer accused Prairie Supply Co-operative in Calgary and ProCurity Pharmacy Services in Calgary of selling to pharmacies that Pfizer had earlier black-listed for allegedly shipping drugs to Americans.
Earlier this month, Pfizer informed seven Canadian mail-order pharmacies that it would no longer supply them with Pfizer products (story). Officials of Pfizer Canada said the company took action against the two wholesalers "to protect the integrity of the pharmaceutical supply system." Company spokesman Jack Cox did not identify the pharmacies to which the two wholesalers allegedly distributed Pfizer products but said the company was "confident" its accusations were accurate.
Officials of the two wholesalers denied that they distributed Pfizer products to pharmacies that sell medications to U.S. residents, although they said they have distributed non-Pfizer products to such pharmacies, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
"The problem is, as a wholesaler, people buy from you because you're one-stop shopping. If you don't carry Pfizer products, you will basically disappear from the roadmap of pharmaceutical wholesalers." Prairie Supply general manager Laurie Gauthier said.
Gauthier said her firm is considering legal action against Pfizer.
