Good news for those on expensive medications:

US officials plan to allow cheaper drugs from Canada and elsewhere to cut costs.

The Food and Drug Administration aims to let states set rules on importing certain prescription drugs.

About a dozen states have pressed for permission to import drugs that meet US quality standards.

The Department of Health and Human Services would enable certain medications made and sold in other countries to be imported.

Opening the US to imported drugs is central to a White House effort to reduce drug prices.

Federal officials say it would let Americans attain the cost savings of consumers in other countries.

Industry groups argue this could threaten patient safety by letting in substandard or counterfeit drugs.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar said they aim to make imported drugs as safe as any sold in Canada.

Controlled supplies, he said, would be safer than that through which Americans already buy so-called Canadian drugs online but originate elsewhere.

Imported drugs would have to be FDA approved, tested for authenticity and safety and be labeled for sale in the US.