Sununu signs bill to import prescription drugs from Canada

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Gov. Chris Sununu on Thursday signed a bill to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada to New Hampshire.

New Hampshire will now follow Maine, Vermont and other states that have passed legislation to set up importation programs with Canada.

Sununu said in a news release the legislation “will inject transparency in drug pricing, allow New Hampshire to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada, and puts a price cap on insulin to ensure no one will have to worry about being able to afford lifesaving insulin.”

State Sen. Dan Feltes, a Democrat from Concord who sponsored the bill, said in a statement that long before the coronavirus pandemic, New Hampshire faced the highest health care costs in the nation. “As families across the state have been economically crushed, the need to curb skyrocketing prescription drug costs and the rationing of life-sustaining prescription drugs has only increased,” he said in a statement. “For many, the situation is quite literally life or death. No one should be forced to choose between their health and their financial security.”

The bill had wide support, including from a cross-section of groups representing doctors, seniors, and health and wellness groups.

“This bill represents a significant positive step for the health and wellbeing of Granite Staters,” Kenneth Norton, executive director of NAMI New Hampshire, said in a statement.