Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1359

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

US House allows import of prescription drugs
The Economic Times 2003 Jul 25

Full text:

WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives approved legislation today to allow the importation of lower-cost prescription drugs from industrialised nations, brushing aside opposition from President George W.Bush’s administration and a fierce lobbying campaign by the pharmaceutical industry.

The vote was 243-186, and sent the measure to the Senate, where it faced an uncertain fate.

“I was not sent here by drug companies and I will not stand here and see American seniors take a back seat to the pharmaceutical industry,” said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican.

“A bottle of tamoxifen, used to fight breast cancer, costs US$360 in the United States. It costs $60 in Germany,” she added.

But critics argued the bill, while it held out the hope of lower prices, would sacrifice patient safety.

“The country is going to be flooded with unsafe pharmaceutical counterfeits, over-age pharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals that don’t preserve and protect the safety of our citizens,” said Rep. John Dingell, a Democrat who has worked across the decades for patient safety legislation.

The bill was brought to the floor under unusual circumstances.

Republican leaders oppose it, but Speaker Dennis Hastert agreed to allow a vote last month as part of an agreement for Emerson to vote for Medicare prescription drug legislation.