Genetic Medicine Vacations

In Canada it's illegal to pay a woman for her eggs. As a result, some Canadian couples go on fertility vacations to the U.S. where they legally can buy eggs.

I wish more of this kind of thing happened with pharmaceuticals. The U.S. FDA prevents Americans from using drugs that other rich countries find perfectly safe. Many Americans would benefit if they could get a lifetime supply of drugs from a nation with greater pharmaceutical freedom.

It's easier to go on a fertility vacation than a drug vacation, however, because you only need one egg, whereas you need a continual supply of drugs. But I imagine that genetic medicine will soon change this.

Imagine that a pharmaceutical company develops a gene therapy that helps cancer patients or perhaps even increases intelligence. Assume you only need to get this treatment once. If the FDA makes it illegal to take the treatment in the U.S., than Americans could still easily go to another country to get the treatment. Because of genetic medicine vacations the FDA, I predict, will have far less power over genetic medicines than they do over traditional pharmaceuticals.