Allowing imported drugs looks likely
The Senate, on a 63-28 vote, effectively endorsed the measure as an amendment to legislation related to the Food and Drug Administration.
The administration opposes allowing imports of prescription drugs and has pledged to recommend the president veto the final FDA legislation if it includes such a provision.
Republicans, however, decided to make one more try at defeating the measure. They sought to add a requirement that the FDA first certify that imported medicines are safe and effective. That is something that federal health officials, since the days of the Clinton administration, have said they cannot do.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the amendment sponsored by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., would satisfy the administration’s concerns about the safety of imported drugs. “It would diminish, if not eliminate, the need for the president’s advisers to recommend a veto,” Fratto said.
The amendment that survived the test vote would permit broader imports of prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere, where certain medicines can cost less than two-thirds what they do in the United States. Backers hope the imports will drive down prices at home.
“The fact is, we are paying the highest prices for brand-name prescription drugs in the world and that’s not fair,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the amendment’s sponsor. “Let’s make the global economy work for everybody.”
The drug industry also opposes allowing drug imports, arguing it could leave the nation vulnerable to counterfeits ? a concern echoed by several lawmakers.
“To accept the importation of foreign drugs is to open the door so that a cottage industry today becomes a major industry tomorrow in supplying counterfeit drugs,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
The move enjoys broad popular support, nevertheless. But lower prices overseas would not automatically mean large savings for domestic consumers, according to a 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office.
The study found that allowing drug imports from a broad set of countries would cut drug spending by $40 billion over 10 years ? or by about 1 percent.