Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15766

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Publication type: news

Jackson H.
E-mail: Drug lobbyist targeted Menendez to help with importation bill
North Jersey.com 2009 Jun 8
http://www.naturalnews.com/026634_drug_drugs_treatment.html

Full text:

“URGENT,” shouted the subject line on the drug-industry lobbyist’s email.

The U.S. Senate was headed toward a vote to legalize importing cheaper drugs from other countries, and unlike numerous times in the past, the industry might not be able to stop it “unless we get some significant movement.”

The e-mail called for New Jersey companies to ask Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., to be their champion on an amendment that would effectively kill any attempt to allow drugs to be imported.

“We need to locate a Democratic lead cosponsor for the second degree amendment,” the e-mail said. “Can … [Johnson & Johnson], Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and the other New Jersey companies coordinate and contact Senator Menendez’s office and ask him to take the lead?”

Pharmaceutical companies had blocked importation in the past with measures that would require the government to certify that any imported drugs were safe – an impossible position because the United State can’t regulate what happens in other countries.

Menendez’s office said that while he supports the drug companies’ position, he did not act as their champion. But they won this round any way, after the Senate Monday night approved a parliamentary motion 61-30 that makes bringing the importation issue up for a vote this week essentially impossible.

The industry strategy to pursue Menendez came to light because the e-mail from PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, ended up in the hands of Sen. John McCain, a drug importation advocate. And McCain read it on the Senate floor – twice.

“That’s what this is all about,” McCain said before the procedural vote Monday. “It’s the special interests vs. the American interests and the special interest, in this case, PhRMA, has won rounds one through nine. We won’t quit this fight because the American people deserve it, particularly in these difficult economic times.”

The bill actually before the Senate does not deal with pharmaceutical importation. Rather, it would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco as a drug, something anti-smoking advocates have sought for years.

The tobacco bill seems closer to becoming law than it ever has, but supporters are worried that controversial amendments could scuttle it, and the Senate’s vote to end debate Monday would lead to any “non-germane” amendments, such as drug importation, being dismissed by the chair without a vote.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said after Monday’s vote he had a commitment from Senate leadership to bring drug importation up for a vote in the future.

Menendez, as the chairman of the committee responsible for recruiting and raising money for Democratic candidates, is part of the Senate leadership. He voted for an amendment two years ago – that passed 49-40 — that essentially vitiated an importation provision that the Senate then approved on a unanimous voice vote.

Menendez was contacted by the drug companies, and he did not sponsor an amendment this time or speak about the issue on the floor, spokesman Afshin Mohamadi said.

“He is not the Democratic lead,” Mohamadi said.

Last year, Menendez and New Jersey colleague Frank Lautenberg were two of just three Democrats on the losing side of a 73-23 vote on a nonbinding amendment calling for legalizing importation of drugs from “highly industrialized countries with safe pharmaceutical infrastructures.”

That kind of importation can’t happen, PhRMA contends, because it is too easy to substitute counterfeits that could be dangerous unless the United States’ chain of custody from manufacturer to pharmacy is followed.

“Patients should not be put at risk,” said Bob Franks, a former Republican congressman and gubernatorial candidate who is now president of the pharmaceutical-industry-backed HealthCare Institute of New Jersey.

“We want to make sure patient safety is protected if there’s a move to import drugs from all over the world, including third-world countries that have a demonstrated record of sending unsafe products to us,” Franks said.

PhRMA’s senior vice president, Ken Johnson, said even importing drugs from Canada poses risks because the Canadian government cannot vouch for the origin and authenticity of the medicines.

He said mentioning Menendez in the email was “a mistake” and was driven by the assumption Menendez would want to protect the 211,000 direct and indirect jobs the biopharmaceutical industry creates in New Jersey.

“We apologize for that,” Johnson said. “But there’s nothing wrong with the memo. There’s nothing sinister about the memo. It’s about lobbyists lobbying. … We have had a longstanding opposition to risky importation schemes. Unfortunately the fake drug epidemic around the world is spreading.”