[Ip-health] US Senators to intro drug reimportation amendment to healthcare bill, undermine PhRMA deal

[Sarah Rimmington]

**First, a Summary of some recent US coverage of the Nelson
reimportation amendment (with thanks to Dr. Anthony So)**

Sen. Nelson's reform bill amendment would extract more money from PhRMA.
The _New York Times_
<http://mailview.custombriefings.com/mailview.aspx?m=3D2009092301dia&r=3D32=
94756-28ee&l=3D023-114&t=3Dc>
(9/22, Herszenhorn, Pear) "Prescriptions" blog reports, "The first big
fight over the Senate Finance Committee's healthcare legislation erupted
Tuesday night: a rollicking brawl over a deal that the Obama
administration cut with the pharmaceutical industry to achieve $80
billion in savings on drug costs over 10 years, money that would help
pay for the legislation." Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) "has proposed an
amendment that would essentially toss out the White House deal with
PhRMA," and "said his alternate plan would extract an additional $86
billion more from the drug industry." Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged
"adoption of the amendment," and "warned that it would be an early
litmus test for senators in the healthcare debate, by posing a clear
choice of siding with average citizens or siding with a corporate
interest group."
_CQ Today_
<http://mailview.custombriefings.com/mailview.aspx?m=3D2009092301dia&r=3D32=
94756-28ee&l=3D024-4ff&t=3Dc>
(9/23, Wayne) adds that the Nelson amendment also "would make Medicaid
responsible for paying for low-income seniors' drugs... Medicaid
generally gets better prices for drugs than Medicare does; Democrats
said the change would save $86 billion over 10 years." The _Dow Jones
Newswire_
<http://mailview.custombriefings.com/mailview.aspx?m=3D2009092301dia&r=3D32=
94756-28ee&l=3D025-f9e&t=3Dc>
(9/23, Vaughan) also reports on the amendment.



**Second, an article from Pharmatimes on the issue (for a UK perspective)**

http://www.pharmatimes.com/WorldNews/article.aspx?id=3D16625&src=3DEWorldNe=
ws
US Senate leader guarantees action on Rx imports
23 September 2009
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has pledged that the Senate will,
before year-end, look at plans to allow Americans to re-import
US-approved prescription drugs, whether or not they come up in the
health care reform debate.

Senator Reid guaranteed this action in a letter sent yesterday to three
leading sponsors of proposed legislation which would lift the current
ban on re-imports of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved
prescription drugs. The bill, sponsored by Republicans John McCain and
Olympia Snowe and Democrat Byron Dorgan, would permit pharmacies and
wholesalers licensed in the USA to import such medicines from the
European Union (EU), Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

In June, Sen Reid had assured the bill=92s sponsors that the Senate would
vote on their bill before taking up the massive health reform
legislation, after they threatened to delay work on moves to authorise
the FDA to regulate the tobacco industry unless they got their vote.
However, in his letter yesterday he says that there now is not
sufficient time for this to take place.

=93The Senate has experienced an extremely full legislative agenda that
has not permitted me to turn to this important legislation as quickly as
I would have liked,=94 he writes. Instead, he pledges that he will work to
ensure that a vote on lifting the ban is included as an amendment to the
Senate=92s comprehensive health reform legislation, and that if this is
not possible, it will be put before Senators as a stand-alone bill
before the end of the year.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which
has always strongly opposed allowing drug re-imports, has welcomed the
delay on the vote. =93We should not pursue policies that could expose
Americans to substandard drug products and potentially weaken the FDA by
crippling the agency=92s ability to fulfill its mission in protecting
public health and safety,=94 says PhRMA.

- The bill to allow re-imports =96 the Pharmaceutical Market Access and
Drug Safety Act =96 was introduced by the three Senators and others in
March this year. They point out that the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) has estimated that passage would save US consumers $50 billion
over the next decade, including more than $10 billion in federal
government savings, and add that would not only =93bring consumers
immediate relief=94 but would =93ultimately force the pharmaceutical
industry to lower drug prices in the United States.=94

In the last session of Congress, Sens Dorgan and Snowe had introduced a
similar bill which had over 30 Senate co-sponsors, including President
Barack Obama.

By Lynne Taylor


--
Sarah Rimmington
Attorney
Essential Action, Access to Medicines Project
Washington, DC
Tel: +1 (202) 387-8030
Cell: +1 (202) 422-2687
www.essentialaction.org/access/

Follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/sarahrimmington