For the exclusive use of L. Glavas, 2021. HARVARD BUSINESS|SCHOOL 9-705-010 REV: MARCH 30, 2006 DEBORA SPAR RX Depot: Importing Drugs from Canada The FDA is very concerned about the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and . . . believes that operations such as [Rx Depot ] expose the public to significant potential health risks. -FDA Director of Compliance David Horowitz Show me the dead Canadians. -Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty2 Carl Moore was steeled for a fight. Since the beginning of 2003, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had threatened to shut down his discount chain, Rx Depot, for illegally abetting the importation of Canadian drugs. Launched only the year before, Rx Depot had opened 87 stores across the country and forecast sales of $36 million in 2003.3 Its customers bought prescriptions through partnering Canadian pharmacies, saving up to 80%. A brash, 59-year-old entrepreneur from Oklahoma, Moore had conceived of Rx Depot after his mother was diagnosed with cancer without adequate health insurance. She had a monthly income of $1,000 and prescription costs of $640. For Moore, bucking the system had become a personal crusade