Senate Votes to Allow Importing of Prescription Drugs From Canada
By ROBERT PEAR
Saturday, June 21, 2003
WASHINGTON, June 20 — The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to let pharmacists
import prescription drugs from Canada and resell them in the United States,
so consumers here could benefit from lower Canadian prices.
It was the second time in less than a year that the Senate had taken
such a stand. But the proposal is contingent on a finding that the imports
would pose no risk to public health, and the Bush administration has
made clear that it will not issue such a finding.
The 62-to-28 vote to allow Canadian imports came as the Senate finished
the first of two weeks of debate on a bipartisan bill to revamp Medicare
and add coverage for prescription drugs.
Many members of Congress, especially those from states that border Canada,
said their constituents were already traveling there to buy medicine
at prices lower than those charged in the United States.
For years, these lawmakers have tried to ease the strict rules that
prohibit most drug imports unless they have been authorized by the manufacturer.
Many legislators have accused the drug industry of resisting imports
to keep prices up.
"The U.S. consumer pays the highest prices in the world for prescription
drugs," said Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, who offered
the plan on drug imports as an amendment to the Medicare bill.
"We should and must put some downward pressure on drug prices," he said. "I
understand the pharmaceutical manufacturers do not like that. If I were
in their position, I would certainly resist it as well."
The House has previously voted for legislation like the Senate bill,
which would allow pharmacists and wholesalers to import prescription
drugs from Canada. Senator Dorgan said the safety risks were minimal.
A new report from the Congressional Research Service, done at the request
of Representative Bernard Sanders, the Vermont independent, found that, "The
statutory requirements for approving and marketing pharmaceutical products
in the United States and Canada are, in general, quite similar."
Canada, like the United States, has rules and procedures to control
the "chain of custody" of prescription drugs, from factory to wholesaler
to pharmacy, the report said.
But Dr. Mark B. McClellan, the head of the Food and Drug Administration,
said his agency "cannot guarantee the safety of Canadian drugs."
Permitting imports from Canada would create "a wide inlet for counterfeit
drugs and other dangerous products that are potentially injurious to
the public health," Dr. McClellan, the food and drug commissioner, said
in a letter to the Senate.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade
association for brand-name drug companies, also denounced Mr. Dorgan's
proposal.
"If importation were legal, Canada would become the easiest portal into
the United States for the world's terrorists and counterfeiters," the
association said in a document circulated on Capitol Hill.
Senator Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi, said that unsafe and
adulterated drugs could be shipped from other countries, through Canada,
to the United States. Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader,
said such risks were particularly serious "in this era of bioterrorism."
Another Republican, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, said that
drug prices were lower in Canada because they were controlled by government
agencies. The United States, he said, should not support that approach.
On Thursday, the Senate approved another amendment to the Medicare bill,
which would speed the approval and marketing of low-cost generic versions
of brand-name drugs.
After today's vote, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New
York, went to the Senate floor and denounced the underlying Medicare
legislation. Mrs. Clinton said the bill would create a confusing, bureaucratic "Medicare
maze." She made her point with a chart reminiscent of the one Republicans
used in 1994 to ridicule the plan Mrs. Clinton had developed as first
lady to guarantee health insurance for all Americans.
Two Democratic presidential contenders, Senators Bob Graham of Florida
and John Kerry of Massachusetts, also criticized the bill. Mr. Graham
offered an amendment to close a gap in coverage that he said would affect
more than four million Medicare beneficiaries.
The Senate and the House both plan to vote next week on the Medicare
legislation, which would offer drug coverage to the program's 40 million
beneficiaries. The bill, officially estimated to cost $400 billion over
10 years, would authorize the biggest changes in Medicare since creation
of the program in 1965.
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