A big part of the reason drugs are less expensive in Mexico and Canada
is because the drugs imported _into_ those countries (by Pfizer, Merck,
etc.) don't carry the "FDA approval, regulation, and litigation
premium" that drugs sold in America are forced by market conditions to
carry. Buyers in Mexico are not expected to pay for the horrrendously
expensive American approval and regulation costs, so they don't.



If W proposed eliminating the FDA tomorrow, the first in line to stop
him would be the drug companies.
Drug prices are not caused by anything other than supply and demand. The
'costs' per unit over 17 years are pennies. If we didn't have the fda,
someone would invent it. Libertarians seem to have a ten year memory,
anything that happened longer than that doesn't exist. The FDA didn't
just 'become' it is there for a reason. "patent medicine" Corporations
don't have a conscience, they are not supposed to .

Litigation is a problem, but until we stop stocking congress with
lawyers, it won't go away