'Poison pill' kills drug import plan - Safety provision blocks reform push in Senate

'Poison pill' kills drug import plan - Safety provision blocks reform push in Senate
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times; Tribune staff reporter Ray Long in Springfield and The Associated Press contributed to this report
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published May 8, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Monday effectively killed a measure that would have let Americans buy prescription medicines from foreign suppliers, which sponsors said could have saved consumers billions of dollars.

By a 49-40 vote, senators approved a provision requiring the government to certify that imports are safe -- a step the Bush administration is unlikely to take. The amendment, offered by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), was seen as a major victory for the pharmaceutical industry.

Cochran's caveat "is clearly a poison pill," said Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont Independent and a strong supporter of allowing imports.

The action came during consideration of a major overhaul of the government's troubled drug safety system.

The drug import measure, tacked onto the larger bill, was opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, which argues that pharmacies risk being flooded with counterfeit drugs. And the White House, which also opposes importation, had threatened a veto of the drug safety bill if it eased restrictions.

That put the Senate's Democratic majority in a bind: Many favor direct drug importation, but the amendment threatened to stymie a reform of the Food and Drug Administration that is considered must-pass legislation. So some Democrats straddled the issue by voting for the drug-import amendment but also for a proviso requiring the government to certify that imports are safe.

"Today is a day of lost opportunity," said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), author of the import proposal.

If it became law, U.S. pharmacies would be allowed to import prescription drugs produced in FDA-licensed facilities in other developed countries.

Dorgan accused the pharmaceutical industry of wanting to dictate prices to U.S. consumers.

"Yes, we have price controls in America," he said. "Not government price controls, but price controls by the pharmaceutical industry."


'This fight is not over'

The Senate went on to pass Dorgan's legislation by a voice vote -- with Cochran's proviso added. In the past, Democratic administrations also have been reluctant to make sweeping declarations about the safety of imported medications.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) voted against the Cochran provision; Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) did not vote.

"This fight is not over," Dorgan said. "We will be back."

White House officials had said they would withdraw the veto threat if the Senate included Cochran's requirement.

Cochran said the problem of counterfeit drugs was his main concern. "Serious problems exist with products from other countries," he said.

Drug industry representatives make the safety argument as well. But they also worry that opening the United States to imports of prescription drugs eventually would lead to government-set prices, a practice common in Canada and Europe.

The Senate is expected to finish work on the FDA drug safety bill later this week.

Similar drug-import legislation is pending in the House.

The idea of allowing prescription drug imports enjoys broad popular support. However, lower prices overseas would not automatically translate into large savings in the U.S., according to a 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office.

The study found that allowing pharmaceutical imports from a broad set of countries would cut U.S. drug spending by $40 billion over 10 years, about a 1 percent savings. It said foreign governments could limit drug exports to protect their domestic supplies, and that U.S. drug companies could respond to an importation bill by increasing prices abroad.


Program in Illinois

In Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich started a drug importation program called I-Save-Rx in 2004.

"More than 38,000 prescriptions have been filled through I-Save-Rx, saving customers $4.8 million since the program began," said Abby Ottenhoff, a Blagojevich spokeswoman.

The program is designed for people who do not qualify for other government-sponsored prescription drug programs such as Medicaid or Medicare. It fills a gap for people "who really had no other option," she said.

I-Save-Rx is limited to maintenance drugs taken on an ongoing basis, Ottenhoff said.

In September, Illinois Auditor Gen. William Holland chastised the Blagojevich administration for spending nearly $1 million to develop and market the plan, which led to illegally importing lower-costing drugs for fewer than 3,700 residents.