[Pharm-policy] Clinton Decries Drug Import Deal

[James Love]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 15:54:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Sharonann Lynch <salynch00@earthlink.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <healthgap@CritPath.Org>
Subject: Clinton Decries Drug Import Deal

Clinton Decries Drug Import Deal
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton spoke out Friday against what he 
called a watered-down Republican measure for increasing Americans' 
access to U.S.-made prescription drugs that are sold overseas at 
lower prices.

As part of an agriculture spending bill, House and Senate Republicans 
late Thursday put the final touches on their measure for allowing the 
importation of drugs that U.S. pharmaceutical makers market abroad.

``We had an agreement to work in a bipartisan fashion, which they 
rejected in favor of writing a bill on their own, which is more 
acceptable to the drug companies,'' Clinton said. The GOP measure, he 
added, ``will clearly provide less help to seniors and others who 
need but can't afford drugs.''

Republicans a day earlier had ended bipartisan negotiations to push 
their own package.

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt called the Republican plan ``full 
of loopholes.''

But a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said 
Republicans were helping seniors. ``This administration ... has had 
eight years to do something about drug prices,'' said spokesman John 
Czwartacki. ``Before he starts criticizing people who are actually 
trying to get something done, maybe he should start working with us 
in a bipartisan fashion to help the seniors most in need right now.''

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said in a statement that sharp 
opposition to the proposal from the pharmaceutical industry showed 
the GOP has reached the proper balance, and Clinton's charge they 
have watered down the measure is ``simply wrong.'' He said some 
administration recommendations were rejected ``because of our concern 
for the safety of American consumers.''

The measure is meant to lower the cost of drugs in the United States, 
something drug companies have lobbied against. Some drugs 
manufactured in the United States are much cheaper in Canada, Mexico 
and other countries.

U.S. drug companies have raised safety concerns about the imported 
U.S. drugs, and the measure requires that the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services ensure safeguards are in place to protect consumers, 
including a requirement that wholesalers submit records on the type 
of drugs imported and where they are shipped. Lawmakers included $23 
million so that the Food and Drug Administration can implement the 
deal.

Still, Democrats claimed Republicans had gutted the plan by agreeing to
give drug companies broad discretion over contracts with overseas
buyers. Democrats worried that drug companies would discourage
importers, restrict supplies, inflate prices and make the entire program
nonfunctional.

Republicans argued that stricter controls might violate trade and patent
laws.

The importation proposal initially had attracted Democratic and
Republican support as lawmakers, gridlocked over a prescription drug
benefit and patients' rights, sought a health care measure they could
pass before adjourning.

Meanwhile, a group of Republican lawmakers offered an alternative
patients' rights measure Friday, hoping to end the logjam that has
stalled that bill for more than a year.

The measure offered Friday was authored by Rep. Charlie Norwood, a
Georgia Republican who cosponsored the version that passed the House
last year. He was joined by Reps. Greg Ganske of Iowa, Stephen Horn of
California and Marge Roukema and Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri.  
Ashcroft had opposed Norwood's earlier measure and had been targeted by
Democrats in his re-election bid because of it.

``We need to keep working with all members to pass strong patient
protection legislation this year,'' Ashcroft said.

Still, it is unclear if the measure has enough support to get to the
House or Senate floor for a vote -- especially with Congress near
adjournment. The House last year gave patients a broad right to sue
while the Senate version was more limited.

The new Republican version included several changes such as a $5 million
limit on statutory damages in federal court. The first version allowed
unlimited statutory damages. Punitive damages are not allowed in federal
court.

The new version also requires claimants to prove irrevocable injury 
before being able to skip the administrative appeals' process and 
sue. In the earlier bill, physical injury alone allowed a claimant to 
skip the appeals process and sue.

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