TechCentralStation: Canadians Will Cross United States Border to Access Prescription Drugs and Medical Treatment

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 21, 2003--On July 24 a group of Canadian patients are bussing from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Bangor, Maine, to access prescription drugs and other treatments unavailable to them in Canada.

The bus carrying the 17 patients will arrive at the Bangor Hampton Inn, off 10 Bangor Mall Blvd. approximately 11:30 a.m. EST. There the patients will disembark and be transported by cars to their medical appointments.

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Canadian Dr. Tony Lordon will be escorting his patients on this journey; all will be available for advance media interviews Wednesday, July 23.

Canadian price controls and health care rationing have forced these patients to seek more effective prescription drugs and medical procedures in the United States. These patients, and countless others like them, have found that prescription drug coverage in Canada limits the use of commonly prescribed drugs in the United States.

"We all hear about busloads of American seniors coming to Canada to purchase prescription drugs," said Durhane Wong-Rieger, chair of the Consumer Advocare Network, organizer of the bus trip. "For too many Canadians, long waiting lists, lack of access to general practitioners and specialists, and insufficient drug coverage are the grim realities of our health care system."

While in the United States these Canadian patients will receive:

-- Breakthrough drugs unavailable in Canada

-- Tests and procedures like MRIs with long, risky waiting

periods in Canada

-- Visits with medical specialists with long waiting periods in

Canada

The bus trip is organized by the Consumer Advocare Network (www.consumeradvocare.org), a Canadian network of health care consumer organizations and individuals in Canada whose mission is to ensure the Canadian health care system is driven by consumer needs. The trip and medical services provided to the patients while in Bangor are funded through an unconditional grant from Rx&D, the association of Canada's research-based pharmaceutical companies.

TechCentralStation, a DC-based Web site devoted to free market solutions to public policy questions, is covering the bus trip as part of its current health care coverage.