[Pharm-policy] [Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: GOP Drug Import Proposal Denounced]

[Paul Davis]

pdavis@CritPath.Org wrote:
> 
> This article from NYTimes.com

> GOP Drug Import Proposal Denounced
> http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Health-Politics.html
> 
> September 28, 2000
> 
> By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
> 
> Filed at 6:40 p.m. ET
> 
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- A proposal to allow wholesale drug distributors
> to import American-made drugs sold cheaper abroad hit a snag
> Thursday after one of its original authors denounced a version
> written by House Republicans.
> 
> Lawmakers and President Clinton earlier this week agreed to pass a
> proposal to import American drugs. The agreement was an attempt to
> pass a health proposal after both sides gridlocked on a
> prescription drug benefit for seniors.
> 
> But Thursday, Rep. Bernie Sanders, the independent Vermont lawmaker
> who has lobbied hard for the plan, complained that the version
> written by House Republican leaders ``will substantially weaken
> this legislation and weaken our efforts to lower the costs of
> prescription drugs through reimportation.''
> 
> ``I fear the pharmaceutical industry played a role in crafting some
> of these provisions,'' Sanders said.
> 
> Sen. James Jeffords, the Vermont Republican who helped draft the
> original Senate version, had not seen the new language as of
> Thursday afternoon, said spokesman Joe Karpinski.
> 
> But Karpinski said Jeffords ``would be concerned if that language
> undermines the goal of reducing the cost of drugs for Americans.''
> 
> A spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the language was
> not final. The newly drafted version had merely been sent to the
> White House for comment, said spokesman John Feehery.
> 
> ``We have not closed out the language,'' Feehery said. ``We're not
> trying to weaken this at all. We're just tying to ensure it
> provides safety for American consumers.''
> 
> Sanders complained that under the rewritten version, the law would
> expire after three years and the program would be terminated upon
> discovery of a pattern or an attempted pattern or practice to
> import counterfeit drugs.
> 
> Such provisions will discourage businesses from even wanting to
> participate, Sanders complained. The newly drafted version would
> also require the imported drugs to carry country-of-origin labels.
> 
> ``If there is some group, some place, trying to send into this
> country a counterfeit drug, then the whole program is suspended,''
> Sanders said. ``That just would seem to me a very difficult way to
> do business ... to suddenly one day find the whole process has been
> suspended.''
> 
> ``This will be a major disincentive to any business,'' Sanders
> said.
> 
> The New York Times on the Web
> http://www.nytimes.com


-- 
Paul Davis
pdavis@critpath.org
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