This could radically reshape the market in a way that could create a strain on Canada’s drug supply chain. I mean, presumably pharmacies there stock drugs based on estimates of how many people need them. Canada’s population is about 36 million, and we have about 300 million people. And presumably the drug cost is negotiated by the government with companies based on an estimate of how much will be purchased by the country… If Canada is all of a sudden importing enough drugs for 100 million people, 70 million of whom used to pay 4X more to the same pharmaceutical company, I would imagine that could change the ultimate price Canada can secure.
So I can see this being, in the short term, a huge boon for people strapped for cash or with expensive copays…then I can imagine Canada restricting purchases from non-citizens or residents.
Or possibly ( a pipe dream) the US may finally decide to negotiate drug prices on our behalf that are not 4X more expensive than the rest of the world.