E-drug: NYTimes Article: GOP Drug Import Proposal Denounced
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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