House Approves Bill Allowing Reimportation of FDA-Approved Medicines from 25 Industrialized Nations
The House on July 25 voted 243-186 to pass a bill (HR 2427) that would allow U.S. residents to purchase prescription drugs from Canada and some other nations, the Los Angeles Times reports (Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 7/25). The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.), would allow U.S. pharmacists to import prescription drugs manufactured in a number of industrialized nations, provided that the medications are manufactured by companies that use counterfeit-resistant technologies and that the companies have registered their production operations with the FDA. Provisions in the House and Senate Medicare bills (HR 1 and S 1) would allow the reimportation of U.S.-manufactured prescription drugs only from Canada (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/24). The vote "crossed the customary party and ideological lines in the House," the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports; 155 Democrats, 87 Republicans and one independent voted in favor of the legislation, and 45 Democrats and 141 Republicans voted against the bill (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/25). The bill's passage marks a "major defeat" for the pharmaceutical industry, which sent "armies of lobbyists" to Capitol Hill to convince lawmakers that the legislation would allow counterfeit medications into the United States and prompt many companies to reduce expenditures on research and development of new treatments, the New York Times reports. The FDA also made an "intense effort" to convince lawmakers to vote against the bill, which the agency said would endanger the safety of medications, the New York Times reports (Gay Stolberg, New York Times, 7/25). The vote also marks a "setback" for the Traditional Values Coalition, a Christian group that maintains that the bill would expand U.S. residents' access to mifepristone, which causes a medical abortion when taken in combination with misoprostol, the Boston Globe reports. However, Gutknecht said that the bill does not allow the importation of such medications (Milligan, Boston Globe, 7/25).
Reaction
"I think this is the Congress saying, 'We hear you, drug prices are too high,'" Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), co-sponsor of the bill, said. "The issue is not safety," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said, adding, "The issue is price. It is time that this Congress stop acting as a wholly owned subsidiary of the pharmaceutical companies and step up to its responsibility to the consumers of this nation" (New York Times, 7/25). Rep. Tom Allen (D-Maine) said, "The industry's claims about research and development seem to me to be based on a campaign of fear, with a rationale that doesn't make much economic sense. ... These companies survive and thrive only if they innovate, only if they develop new drugs" (Boston Globe, 7/25). However, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said that the bill would cause the United States "to be flooded with unsafe pharmaceutical counterfeits, [old] pharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals that don't preserve and protect the safety of our citizens" (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/25). Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, called the bill a "risky roll of the dice" because the "World Health Organization estimates that 10% of all medicines (worldwide) are counterfeit" (Boston Globe, 7/25). House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) called the bill a "horrible policy," adding, "From a free-market perspective, I'm not interested in importing price controls" (New York Times, 7/25).
Bill Prospects 'Uncertain'
The bill, which is "dramatically different" from the reimportation provision in the Senate Medicare bill, faces "an uncertain future," the Boston Globe reports (Boston Globe, 7/25). The legislation, which becomes the position of House conferees in efforts to reconcile the House and Senate Medicare bills, could "complicate ... negotiations," the Los Angeles Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 7/25). On July 24, 53 senators released a letter that states their opposition to a provision in the bill that would revise a federal law allowing the HHS secretary to determine the safety of prescription drug importation. The letter includes the signatures of Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Don Nickles (R-Okla.), both Senate representatives on the Medicare conference committee (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/25). In addition, "it is unclear how hard the House representatives in the Medicare negotiations will fight" for the legislation, the New York Times reports (New York Times, 7/25). According to the Globe, "Even if the Gutknecht bill was sent to the Senate as a stand-alone bill, there is no guarantee that it would pass or be signed by President Bush" (Boston Globe, 7/25). The White House on July 23 issued a Statement of Administration Policy that asked the House to not pass the bill (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/24).
NPR's "NPR News" on July 25 reports on the bill. The segment includes comments from Dingell (Edwards, "NPR News," NPR, 7/25). The full segment is available online in RealPlayer.
USA Today Examines 'Cross-Pressures' on GOP Lawmakers
USA Today examines the "cross-pressures" that House Republicans faced in their vote on the bill. Although Republicans hold a 229-205 majority in the House, House leaders "struggled to persuade members of their own party" to vote against the bill, which indicates the "political potency of the drive to reduce the costs of medicines," USA Today reports. Republican lawmakers "are facing cross-pressures," Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, said. He added, "Drug interests have supported Republicans for a long time. But on the other hand, few things are more frightening to a politician than a room full of angry senior citizens" (Welch, USA Today, 7/25).