Senior US and Canadian drug officials agreed to share information about the cross-border trade in prescription drugs.

Prescription drugs and bags full of drugs in a Canadian drug store for a group of Minnesota Senior Citizens from the US.  [AFP/File]

Increasing numbers of Americans have recently been purchasing the prescription drugs from the Canadian Internet supplies because drug prices are substantially lower in Canada.

The US Food and Drug Administration has complained that prescription drugs being sent from Canada to the United States could cause shortages in Canada; but Health Canada insists it has seen no evidence to support that assertion.

Canada also denies US allegations that there have been cases of Canadian Internet pharmacies providing unsafe medicines to US clients.

At a news conference in Ottawa, FDA commissioner Mark McLellan said the new agreement will help authorities on both sides of the border to work more closely together.

"We have seen lots of examples of unsafe drugs coming into the United States from Canada: unapproved medicines, medicines that were not stored properly, medicines that were dispensed in the wrong amounts or without a physician's labeling," he said.

Diane Gorman, assistant deputy minister of Health Canada, defended her agency's safety record, and insisted: "We have no evidence at this time, in the context of internet pharmacies, that there are unsafe products going to the United States.

"It's very clear that Canada's safety record is second to none internationally."

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