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April 8, 2014

Pharmacy leader files complaint against Canadian drug co.

The president of the Maine Pharmacy Association has filed a complaint with state regulators alleging a Canadian pharmaceutical company broke state law by selling him drugs manufactured in Turkey, India and Mauritius.

The Portland Press Herald reported Kenneth McCall said his complaint was filed separately from the trade association he represents. That group has filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the law, which allows drug imports from Australia, Canada, Northern Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. That law was passed in response to a ruling by then-Attorney General William Schneider, who ruled the Canadian mail-order pharmacy could not be licensed in Maine and therefore could not import drugs to customers including the state, city of Portland and a Guilford-based wood products manufacturer.

McCall’s complaint alleges that another Canadian mail-order pharmacy, Canada Drug Center, filled his prescriptions with drugs not manufactured in the approved countries. McCall said the company is merely a pass-through for drugs from unapproved countries. An attorney for the company said the origin of its drugs is not masked and that McCall was told at various stages where the drugs would come from and never objected. McCall said despite the disclosure, the company’s drug sales in Maine may be illegal.

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