Talarico Passes Historic Bipartisan Bill to Import Prescription Drugs from Canada
**LINK TO PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO HERE**
AUSTINX – Today, State Representative James Talarico passed historic bipartisan legislation to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada. House Bill 25 — which passed the Texas House today 144 – 1 — could lower prescription drug prices on EpiPens to blood pressure medicine to cancer drugs by 60-70%.
A quarter million Americans die every year from not taking their prescriptions. Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world — higher than any other industrialized nation. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies make profits of up to four times what other large corporations make — as much as $95 billion a year.
House Bill 25 creates the Texas Wholesale Prescription Drug Importation Program. It allows Texas to import cheap medicine from Canada with tight regulatory safeguards approved by the FDA. Six states — from Florida to Colorado — have already passed similar legislation.
These imports will result in an estimated cost savings of 60-70% for Texas consumers, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings for state agencies. The bill follows the rules laid out by the Trump Administration in 2020 when it established a clear, safe pathway for states to import lower-cost drugs from Canada.
“Texans are choosing between their medications and their groceries — and many of them are choosing to go without their medications,” said Talarico. “We must take advantage of this moment to get Texas to the front of the line. It’s time to put the lives of Texans over the profits of Big Pharma.”
