The Burrill Report


A bipartisan group of 19 senators is pushing legislation that would allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from markets outside the United States where the same drugs can sell for 35 to 55 percent less. The legislation, introduced by Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow and Maine Republican Olympia Snowe, reignites a long-fought battle over drug reimportation.

The proposed legislation would allow pharmacies and wholesalers to purchase FDA-approved drugs from countries such as Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, countries with similar safety standards to the United States. The senators noted that a similar bill introduced last year would have saved $19.4 billion for federal taxpayers, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“For years, Michigan families have been forced to pay outrageous costs or cross into Canada to get reasonably priced prescriptions,” says Stabenow. “The fact that the exact same FDA-approved drugs are a fraction of the price in Ontario defies common sense. Our bill allows Michigan pharmacists to do business with Canada and other industrialized nations so they can offer customers the exact same medicines at the best prices.”

While other countries benefit from price controls, paying what Snowe says was between 35 to 55 percent less than American consumers, the industry warns that there’s no way to ensure the safety of imported drugs and promised savings from such plans are unproven. Consumers would also be able to purchase prescription drugs from FDA-insepected Canadian pharmacies.

But efforts to pass such legislation have repeatedly failed, in part because of concerns over the ability to ensure drugs purchased from other countries are what they claim to be. Proponents of drug reimportation sought to attach it as an amendment to the healthcare reform legislation passed in March 2010. Though it won 51 votes in the Senate, it fell short of the 60 it needed to advance to a final vote.

“Prescription drug importation is unsafe, could compromise the U.S. drug supply and potentially expose patients to dangerous counterfeit medicines from abroad,” says Karl Uhlendorf, deputy vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association. “Two Secretaries of Health and Human Services, under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, have not been able to certify the safety or cost-savings of these types of schemes.”

Snowe says nations have been able to institute safe and regulated pharmaceutical trade. She says doing so has led to savings of as much as 19 percent in Europe. “Negotiating concessions is no substitute for instilling market competition,” she says, “which is exactly what this legislation will do.”

Though PhRMA has a well-worn playbook on the issue, it will be one of the first major tests for John Castellani, who took the helm of the trade group in August. The organization will hammer away at concerns over safety, but it’s price controls that they really don’t want as, in essence, that’s what will be imported along with the drugs from other markets.


February 25, 2011
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