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04/21/04 New York Newsday
Fresh push to legalize imported drugs
WASHINGTON -- The move to legalize the importation of
prescription drugs from Canada appeared to gain momentum
yesterday as the chairman of the key Senate health committee
vowed to introduce a bill within the next few weeks.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions Committee, said he will introduce a measure
after the Memorial Day recess. Last month, Sen. Charles Grassley
(R-Iowa), chairman of the Finance Committee, proposed a bill to
legalize importation.
With seniors complaining of skyrocketing drug costs and
elections looming, pressure is mounting for lawmakers to drive
down prices and support reciprocation. Even federal Health and
Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who opposes
reciprocation, recently acknowledged that it is all but
inevitable that Congress will pass a bill this year.
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05/13/04 Minnesota Public Radio
State employees can order drugs from Canada for free
Gov. Tim Pawlenty says he's taking the next step on the issue of
drug reciprocation. A plan Pawlenty announced Thursday would
allow Minnesota's 120,000 state employees to get certain drugs
at no cost to them -- if they buy from a Canadian Internet
pharmacy. He says the employees and the state will save a
significant amount of money on drug costs. Minnesota is the
first state in the nation to take such action. But critics say
the action is illegal and will have a short shelf life.
Click Here to read a complete article
05/09/04 Portland Press Herald:
Push is on for affordable imports of prescription drugs
WASHINGTON - Congress is exploring ways to loosen the rules on
importing drugs from Canada and other countries amid growing
political pressure for the federal government to reduce the cost
of prescription drugs. For years elderly and uninsured Mainers
have traveled across the border to Canada to buy drugs at prices
that in some cases are less than half of what they'd pay in the
United States. But the travelers can shuttle back only enough
for six months of personal use.
Congress has twice approved importation so long as the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration certifies the foreign drugs are safe.
But U.S. health officials warn that they can't protect against
irregular doses or counterfeit drugs in a system they don't
oversee. Drug makers and their allies in Congress contend that
forcing down prices would curb innovative research into new
medication.
Click Here to read the entire article.
05/08/04 Associated Press:
Ban on Canadian drugs challenged
DENVER (AP) - An Oklahoma company that was shut down for helping
Americans buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada asked a
federal appeals court Friday to let it resume operations.
Rx Depot Inc. also asked the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments in the case because of
the "significant public policy implications" for the elderly and
poor.
A federal judge in Oklahoma ordered the company to close its 85
storefronts in November, ruling it was violating a federal law
that allows only manufacturers to bring their drugs back into
the United States.
Click Here to read the enire article.
05/06/04 Bennigton Banner
Douglas stumps for Canadian drugs
WASHINGTON -- Gov. James Douglas volunteered Vermonters to be
the guinea pigs in a pilot program for importing cheaper
Canadian prescription medications.
"Given our relatively small population and our proximity to the
border, approval of our petition would allow Vermont to serve as
a model for the rest of the nation," Douglas said in prepared
testimony before a federal task force exploring the feasibility
of drug re-importation.
Douglas urged panelists, including Surgeon General Richard H.
Carmona, to open the Canadian pharmaceutical market in an
attempt to lower consumer drug costs. Douglas said his
administration has already crafted a model for managing drug
re-importation and is petitioning for its approval from the Food
and Drug Administration.
"Notwithstanding the complexity of this market, one thing is
very clear: Vermonters, and indeed all Americans, are not
getting the lower cost options they need and deserve," added
Douglas, a Republican.
Douglas' testimony comes just days after Secretary of Health and
Human Services Tommy Thompson conceded that legal drug
re-importation is likely to become a reality in the near future.
Click Here to read the entire article.
05/04/2004 Plain Dealer Reporter Prescription cost cutting :
is relentless task for wife
Herb takes 20 pills a day. He also needs inhalation therapy in
the morning and eve ning. Only a frac tion of the cost of this
$8,000-a-year prescription drug arsenal is covered by the
Kleimans' private Medicare supplement plan. So the Shaker
Heights couple has been shouldering the burden almost alone.
They have been drawing from a retirement package they intended
to use to pay for post-retirement vacations, tuition assistance
for their four grandchildren and other living expenses. Berenice
has also turned herself into the prescription drug equivalent of
a hard-core coupon-clipper.
She buys through Canadian pharmacies, U.S. mail-order companies,
even her local Tops pharmacy. If they are available, the
Kleimans try to buy generics over name brands because the
difference in cost can be considerable.
Click Here to read the enire article.
4/27/04 Norwich Bulletin, CT
Seniors demand answers on Medicare drug
benefit
NORWICH -- Lee Dupont pays out of pocket for the prescription
drugs she needs to treat acid reflux disease, cholesterol
problems and high blood pressure.
"It's an expensive proposition," the 78-year-old Norwich
resident said Monday, adding she spends "quite a few hundred
dollars" a month on prescriptions.
Medicare's new prescription drug cards may provide her some
relief. But first she must endure a complicated process of
figuring out which of the cards is best for her.
She joined 300 other people -- most of them elderly -- at a
forum on Medicare's drug coverage at the Rose City Senior
Center.
Click Here to read the entire article.
4/26/04 Aberdeen News, SD
Is reimportation coming? It's looking good
There may be light at the end of the tunnel for those bogged
down in a financial mire by the high cost of prescription drugs.
Legislation is gathering steam in Congress to allow the
importation of cheaper drugs from Canada and other countries.
The legislation will also get the government involved in
enforcing safety measures that opponents currently use to
justify their stance against such re-importation.
Both houses of Congress have passed bills legalizing
reimportation in the past, but bickering - sometimes used as a
convenient excuse to prevent passage of legislation loved by
voters but hated by lobbyists - prevented a new law from being
made. This year the pressure is coming from the voters, not the
lobbyists.
04/19/2004 NEWSDAY, NY The pfight to 'Pfix Pfizer'
Seniors protest after company cuts off
supply to Canadian pharmacies, seek to legalize reimportation
WASHINGTON - A few months ago, Pfizer, one of the world's
largest pharmaceutical companies, cut off supplies to
wholesalers selling its drugs to Canadian pharmacies or Internet
sites that sold to Americans, mostly, seniors seeking cheaper
drugs.
Senior groups retaliated urging their members to boycott
Pfizer's over-the-counter products, which include Sudafed,
Benadryl and Rolaids.
On Thursday, seniors will ratchet up their campaign to "Pfix
Pfizer" as dozens gather to protest outside Pfizer's
headquarters in Manhattan and at the company's annual meeting in
St. Louis.
"We're trying to change Pfizer's pricing policy," said Lani
Sanjek, associate director of the New York Statewide Senior
Action Council. "They shouldn't be hurting Americans who have
turned to Canadian sources. They shouldn't be cutting them off
from access to affordable medications." Click Here to read the
entire article.
04/19/2004 Associated Press
Massachusetts City Saves $2M on Canadian
Drugs
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Springfield has saved about $2 million
over the past nine months by buying prescription drugs from
Canada for city workers and retirees, the head of the program
said Monday. Chris Collins, the city's insurance director, said
about 3,000 of the 20,000 city employees, retirees and their
dependents are participating in the voluntary program. Last
July, the cash-strapped city became the nation's first to turn
to cheaper Canadian drugs for its health plan. ``I am hoping
more people will take advantage of this and savings will
increase,'' said Mayor Charles Ryan. ``It's in everyone's best
interest.''
Click Here to read the entire article.
3/16/2004 Associated Press:
AARP Will Lobby for Canadian Drugs
The nation's largest seniors group has launched a campaign to
make cheaper Canadian drugs available to Americans. The 35
million-member AARP says it'll lobby drug companies, Congress
and the Bush administration to legalize the imports. The group
also is running television and newspaper ads nationwide.
Click Here to read the whole article.
4/15/2004 The Journal Times, Racine, Wisconsin
Doyle reaffirms Canadian drug idea
Governor Jim Doyle told a federal task force on Wednesday that
the federal government should allow citizens to import
prescription drugs from Canada, and that it should allow states
to do so, too. "I told them about the success of the (state's)
Web site, the over 70,000 hits that we've had on it, which just
demonstrates the enormous interest out there in lower
prescription drugs, and how important it is that we do something
to put some real competition into the marketplace here so that
the drug companies cannot continue to just impose skyrocketing
costs on citizens of Wisconsin and the United States," Doyle
said. He spoke in a teleconference with reporters shortly after
delivering his testimony.
Click Here to read the entire article.
03/15/2004 Seattle Times:
Seattle to look at Canadian drugs
The rising cost of prescription drugs is giving the city of
Seattle a pain in the budget. Some city leaders believe they've
found a remedy: getting city workers to buy their medicines from
Canada, where prices average 30 to 80 percent less for many
drugs. Springfield, Mass., was the first city in this country to
put in place such a program. The former mayor of the Bay State's
third-largest city has this advice for Seattle: Go for it.
Click Here to read the whole article.
3/14/2004 Boston Globe:
City May Import Medicines / Canadian drugs
could save up to $2.4 million
Pressed by surging health care costs, officials in Newton are
gingerly taking steps toward defying federal law and importing
prescription drugs from Canada for city employees. The program
could be implemented within months and could save the city an
estimated $2.4 million next year. Under the plan being
discussed, the money would be divided between the city and the
schools, providing a financial windfall for cash-strapped
departments.
Click Here to read the entire story
3/13/04 Associated Press
White House, GOP forced to take new look
at Canadian drugs
The Bush administration and Republican congressional leaders are
being forced to take a hard new look at the idea of importing
cheaper prescription drugs from foreign countries as an
election-year clamor grows for removing prohibitions. WASHINGTON
- Continuing increases in prescription drug prices - the fastest
growing item in health care - and the pitched partisan battle
over the new Medicare law have given the topic greater
prominence in Congress and on the campaign trail.
AARP, the 35-million-member seniors' group that gave
Republican-backed Medicare legislation a critical endorsement
last year, backs allowing imports. So do two Republican
senators, former GOP leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and John
Cornyn of Texas, both changing their position in recent days.
And so do nearly two-thirds of Americans, according to a recent
AP poll.
3/12/2004
McCain pushes for import of Canadian pharmaceuticals - Support
is growing, including from Arizona Sen. John McCain, to allow
for the importation of less-expensive Canadian prescription
drugs into the U.S. The McCain-chaired Senate Commerce, Science
and Transportation Committee held hearings on the matter
Thursday. The McCain panel grilled the Bush administration's
choice to run the Medicare and Medicaid systems over opposition
to drug-importation plans.
Click Here to read the whole story.
3/9/2004
Senator Jerry Cooper (D-Morrison) continued his push for a pilot
program of importing prescription drugs from Canada. Cooper said
such a program could result in significant savings for
Tennesseans. "Prescription drug costs are rising at an alarming
rate," Cooper said. "It's not unusual to see double-digit
increases in prescription drug prices from year-to-year. What's
truly shocking is that Americans pay far more for the same drug
as citizens in Canada and other countries around the world.
Tennessee citizens should be paying a fair price for
prescription drugs. We need to explore every possible option for
lowering drug costs."
Click Here to read the whole story. |
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January
27, 2004 TIME Magazine
How the clamor for cheap Canadian imports is heating up the 2004
campaign and giving Washington a headache
January 22, 2004
Senator says buying Canadian drugs could save California
millions
January 22, 2004 Associated
Press
Kerry favors importing cheaper Canadian drugs
January 22, 2004 KCRG-TV9
Governor Pushes Pilot Program on Cheaper Canadian Drugs
January 21, 2004 The Sacramento
Bee
Lawmakers look north for savings on prescriptions
January 20, 2004 Contra Costa
Times
Canadian pharmacy deals look good to legislators
January 12, 2004 Advanstar
Communications, Inc.
NABP pushes for cross border pharmacy regulation
January 8, 2004
The war on affordable drugs
June 21, 2003
Senate Votes to Allow Importing of Prescription Drugs From
Canada
The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to let pharmacists import
prescription drugs from Canada and resell them in the United
States, so consumers here could benefit from lower Canadian
prices.
It was the second time in less than a year that the Senate had
taken such a stand. But the proposal is contingent on a finding
that the imports would pose no risk to public health, and the
Bush administration has made clear that it will not issue such a
finding.
May 8, 2003
Canada to Guarantee Imported Medicine - Washington Post
The Canadian government has officially said that it will be
responsible for
the safety and quality of the large and growing flow of
prescription drugs
across the border to American consumers, a clarification long
sought by U.S.
officials.
In an official document posted late last week, the Canadian
health ministry
said all imported drugs must be equally safe and effective
whether they are
for use by Canadians or for export.
April 1, 2002
Drug spending up 17 percent - Washington Post
March 13, 2002
Drugstores Threaten to End Medicaid Service
June 12, 2001
CNN.com reported that costs for the 50 most commonly
used prescription drugs used by senior citizens on average rose
more than twice the rate of inflation in the year ended January
2001. With skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs in America
today, services such as Affordable RX, Inc. are much needed to
offset the cost of medication on to U.S. consumers.
Click here for the full story.
December 27, 2000
Clinton Administration Stops Congressional Bill
SEPTEMBER, 2000
Seattle Times News Article Published:
The closer she looked, the odder it seemed - a dinky white pill
that cost $3. But what really threw Nancy Pitarys for a loop was
discovering she could buy her pill for a fraction of the cost
just two hours north of her Bellevue home - in Canada.
Pitarys, 57, was paying $90 a month for a supply of tamoxifen, a
drug that helps prevent a recurrence of breast cancer. Pitarys,
who has limited insurance coverage, was shocked to discover on a
trip to Canada that she could buy the same supply of medicine
there for $11.
Caught your interest yet? Click here for more...
OCTOBER, 2000
Informational Article Published:
A NEW PRESCRIPTION DRUG REIMPORTATION LAW IS ENACTED. On October
28, 2000, President Clinton signed into law legislation
permitting the reimportation into the United States of certain
prescription drug products manufactured in the United States
which have been exported to a foreign country.
Click here for the full story.
July 19,
2000
Senate Approves Bill to Legalize Import Of Prescription Drugs
July 11, 2000
House Votes to protect personal prescription mail order
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