15 May 2004
Democrats want task force on drug imports to speed recommendations.
Speed it up, Democratic governors and lawmakers are telling a Bush administration task force that is looking at legalizing prescription drug imports.
The panel, made up of federal health officials, held its final public meeting Friday. Its recommendations to Congress aren't due until after the election, but Surgeon General Richard Carmona, the chairman, said its findings would be sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson by the fall, perhaps sooner. "I don't want to stifle discussion or important input, but I want to keep the process moving along," Carmona said.
That's not soon enough for some supporters who want to capitalize on election-year politics and strong public support for legalized imports of prescription medicines from Canada and elsewhere, where brand-name drugs often are at least a third cheaper.
"We urge you to tell your panel to make any recommendations immediately so that we can proceed," six Democratic governors said this week in a letter to President Bush.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry also supports legalization and the Kerry campaign arranged a telephone conference call with the governors and the news media.
The Bush administration has opposed drug imports on safety grounds, the same reason cited by the pharmaceutical industry. White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Friday that Bush is awaiting the task force's recommendations. "We're not interested in complying with artificial deadlines," Duffy said. "The president is interested in the safety and security of the American people."
Separately, senators are asking Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to schedule a vote on the issue before the July 4 congressional recess, Senate aides said. A Senate committee will hold a hearing on drug importation next week, but Frist has said he is unsure whether the Senate will vote this year.
The task force, created by last year's Medicare law, is charged with reporting back to Congress by early December. The timing was an effort to ensure that Congress would not have to deal with the issue until after the election.
But the fierce partisan fight over the Medicare law and continued increases in prescription prices helped make drug imports a central political issue this year. Thompson recently acknowledged the substantial support for importation when he said he thinks Congress will adopt legislation and that he would advise the president not to stand in its way.
Representatives of several doctors' and pharmacists' organizations who testified Friday also seemed resigned to some level of importation. "It's symptomatic of a larger problem, the lack of affordability of prescription drugs," said Susan Hildebrandt, assistant director of government relations at the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Republican lawmakers and administration officials have tried to dampen enthusiasm for imports by asserting that drug prices offered by Medicare discount cards are up to 17 percent lower than retail prices for brand-name drugs. The cards take effect June 1.
Mark McClellan, administrator of the federal agency that runs Medicare and a task force member, also has argued that the new Medicare price comparison Web site will drive prices even lower and result in greater use of less-expensive mail order services and generic drugs.
However, the prices on the Web site for leading brand-name drugs remain substantially higher than Canadian prices.
Critics of the Medicare law have cited its provision that bars the government from negotiating drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers as evidence of the administration's cozy relationship with the industry and unwillingness to take steps to restrain drug prices.
At least 11 Democratic and Republican governors and 20 state attorneys general support importation. Several states and cities have turned to Canada to buy prescription drugs for workers or made it easier for residents to hook up with Canadian Internet pharmacies. Officials in Springfield, Mass., estimate that the city has saved $2 million since it started buying prescription drugs from Canada last year for its city employees and retirees.
Opponents of importation have tried to keep the focus on safety issues. "It's only a matter of time before a horrific tragedy occurs involving imported drugs," Marv Shepherd, a professor of pharmacy at the University of Texas, told the task force Friday.
Lester Crawford, the acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner and a panel member, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and others have raised the specter of terrorism to argue against importing medicines.
"Unfortunately, the system that presently exists has many opportunities for exploitation," Giuliani said in a telephone interview. He has sent HHS a report on the topic that was sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. On the Net:
Government task force on drug importation: www.hhs.gov/importtaskforce/
MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, May 14, 2004
close window