'Poison pill' kills drug import plan

[TacticalPeek]

Source: Sun-Sentinel.com

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.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/chi-0705080110may08,0,5031222.story?coll=sfla-business-headlines

---

Thad Cochran and the Republicans are in a pact with the Devil.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. As much as I would like to see less expensive drugs available from Canada,

I also fear toxic counterparts being counterfeited via China. We've already seen what China has to offer by way of products such as dog food and cough syrup.

This is a tough trade-off. Maybe our efforts should focus on big pharm here in this country on affordable medicine.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. You make a good point

As much as a I hate to say it. We need less expensive medications; we do not need pills made from ground-up plaster being touted as a cure for cancer. Then again, we already have that in the United States because of that damned "nutritional suppliments" law signed by President Clinton.

[Donnachaidh]

8. I've purchased drugs in Canada

Why would we think that Canada would sell us something they wouldn't sell to their own people?

[no_hypocrisy]

10. Here's the thing, if we do allow imports, we also must have the ability

to ban imports from certain countries. And even if that were successful, how do you prevent products from China being surreptitiously imported into this country via straw man countries and disguised labels? This is not as easy an analysis as I once thought it was.

[Donnachaidh]

11. We already ban imports from other countries

We do it all the time.

I doubt Canada is going to set itself up as a straw man country.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Straw man, like China going through South Korea or another country

or two, breaking the chain of manufacturing and importation. I know thirdhand about a guy who imports canned goods from China to this country who has the labels ripped off the cans and pastes on new ones.

[Donnachaidh]

13. that's FROM China -- the bill was about drugs from Canada

Simple solution -- Ban DRUGS from every other suspect country.

Unless, of course, Big Pharma has a foot on your neck and your re-election funds. :sarcasm:

[no_hypocrisy]

16. I don't doubt big Pharm was a great motivation, you're right.

But where in the article in the original post does it say that the imports for the bill were exclusively imported from Canada? Can you please provide me with another source that cites that the target of the bill was Canada? (I'm not being a smart ass; I really would like more information if you have it please.)

[Javaman]

2. all bow down to the great pharm corps! Now!! nt

[havocmom]

3. Inported drugs - bad. Imported food- good? WTF?

All hail the supreme corporate power. Get out of view before you die of contaminated foods or lack of meds you couldn't afford.

Fucking monsters.

[Toots]

5. Only forty no votes

Where the hell were our Senators? It isn't as if the nations health is of any importance or anything....:shrug: As the money rolls into Democratic coffers legislation to help the people will continue to decline...Watch and see. Money talks "Big time"

[Lasher]

6. Here's the record of the roll call vote on the amendment

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00151

Shameful.

[Donnachaidh]

7. Feinstein, Boxer an Clinton Voted NO?

And look at the Presidential candidates -- NOT voting? Biden, Brownback, Dodd, McCain, Obama -- NOT VOTING?

This is pretty amazing, considering who voted no.

[Lobster Martini]

9. Curious that the article only mentioned Obama missing the vote

Bunch of presidential candidates missed the vote, but the only one mentioned is Obama. Draw your own conclusion.

[liberige]

17. Where was Richardson on this vote!

Obama is the only darling right now. Of course he is getting all the scrutiny. Kind of like Edwards in '04.

[Donnachaidh]

20. err -- isn't Richardson a governor?

He's not a senator.

[liberige]

14. Generics the answer

This is really a non-issue. WalMart is now selling prescription drugs for $5... at least the generic versions - which is exactly the same as branded drugs. And within the next 3 years, almost all of the popular (i.e., large Medicare expenditures) branded drugs go off-patent and become subject to generic competition.

Why waste time driving to Canada? Why pollute with greenhouse gases by shipping drugs halfway around the world, when cheaper alternatives are available at your local Walmart (or in the Case of the Bay Area, the WalMart way down the peninsula)? I'm not a fan of the WalMart culture, but they will do more than the Government could ever do to lower the cost of drugs and medical care delivery (preventative services, etc) in the US.

We need to be more progressive in our outlook towards solutions.

[treestar]

15. But it takes a while for the generic to come out - so we'd need some

type of patent-reform law, wouldn't we? At least for the newest drugs.

[liberige]

18. Not really

because we've had almost 40 years of great drug innovation. All the heart and cholesterol pills, arthreitis drugs, head pills, sex drugs and other categories are either currently on generic, have been approved for generic, have had an ANDA (FDA form for a new Generic drug approval)submitted, or will go off patent by 2008. Its becoming more of a straw horse for politicians than a real issue. Why do you think Bush's "Medicare Part D saved more money than even the Government experts predicted"?

Because the government "experts" are too dumb to know about generic drugs (or too coy to include these price competition facts in their calculations). It had nothing to do with the private insurance component. Bush's take on competition looks more like the Russian oligarchs than anything you would learn in a college economics course (search UC Berkeley podcasts & check out their economics lectrures).

Medicare Part D saved money solely because some of the most popular (and expensive) prescription meds became available as generic and also were also offered by WalMart for the same cost as through Medicare, without the hassle of filing insurance claims.

[hedgehog]

22. I'm seeing that already as some of the medications I buy for my family drop from $100 to $20

They're proven safe and effective. It's hard to see how they could be replaced by something newer and more expensive.

[Donnachaidh]

23. and may I ask -- what part of the health care industry YOU work in?

You sound as if you write ad copy for Big Pharma and Walmart. So -- what's your background?

[Donnachaidh]

21. Walmart's generics are LOSS LEADERS

It's just another way to come across as *doing something nice* as Walmart always does. and not all drugs are generics.

And who said ANYTHING about driving to Canada? I'm perfectly willing to use the mails to get cheaper prescriptions. I'm sick to death of giving my hard earned money to Big Pharma.

[liberige]

25. Import from Canada= manufacture in USA -> ship to Canada in Bulk -> ship to USA individually

What will your carbon footprint be when you are having your prescription drugs individually FedEx-ed to you from Canada (or Timbuktu)?

BTW, I am a scientist with no ties to the industry or WalMart... just like to know the objective facts of matters on which I opine.

[Donnachaidh]

28. no ties? Uhh yeah

suuuuuuure. No ties. :eyes:

[Lasher]

31. Well good for you

A basic part of your argument is an assumption that generic medications will become much more common, in relation to drugs still under patent, than they have been in the past. In the prior several decades we have seen considerable demand for newer medications that are covered by patents. Since you like to know the facts of matters on which you opine, I wish you would tell my why you have concluded that this trend will not continue.

Do you think we have reached a point where there will be no new discoveries of any significagance in this field? Is there reason to believe that current patents will not be extended as they have been in the past? Do you know how much extra we are spending on drugs because they are patented, compared to the cost if they were all generic? If so, can you project with certainty when these medications will be available in a generic form?

[liberige]

26. What better way to "stick it to the Man"

than to buy products that supposedly they are selling at a loss. If you hate WalMart and if they are losing money by selling generic prescription drugs, you should promote the purchase of prescription drugs their so they will lose MORE money!

[reprobate]

33. You need to research the patent regs. Patented drugs can apply for and almost

automatically get a five year extension of their patent before they go generic.

The latest filings I've seen extend their patents out until 2012. A bit more than the three years you suggest. And other drugs will do the same as their patent dates approach.

The problem of course, is that Big Pharma owns our government as the latest vote shows.

As I've said many times before, the American government values corporate profit over human lives. It really is amazing to me that the Great Experiment has degenerated into a law of the jungle system in which only the most powerful survive.

[saigon68]

19. Liebermannn (R) Conn = Yea

[Budmeiser]

24. Oh, the hypocrisy

Well, maybe those senators can explain their votes to the granny out there deciding whether to take her pill or be able to afford some tainted veggies from Mexico and feed her cat some melamine-laced garbage from China.

If the same standards applied to imported foods as the Cochran amendment calls for on drugs, I guarantee the whole damn country would be up in arms when they saw their grocery bills -- and would demand immediate action. Not everyone takes drugs, but I'm almost certain they do eat food.

The Dorgan amendment (which the Cochran amendment killed) would have increased the safety of both domestic and imported drugs (yes -- there actually are FDA-approved drugs that aren't manufactured inside the U.S.).

I :puke:on the Cochran amendment and everyone that voted for it.

Suggested viewing: http://dorgan.senate.gov/issues/families/rx/floorspeech

[piedmont]

27. While I am in favor of cheaper drugs from Canada, there *is* a danger posed by the Chinese...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18518915/

Toxic medicine in Panama traced to China
Beijing business sold counterfeit chemical that killed dozens of people

NEW YORK - A Chinese factory was the source of a counterfeit chemical that killed dozens of people in Panama after it was used in human medications, a newspaper reported.

The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions that records and interviews revealed the poison was first sold by Chinese companies that exported it as 99.5 percent pure glycerin. The source of the chemical was then obscured as middlemen in Spain and Panama removed the names of their suppliers from shipping documents — a practice used by distributors to ensure continued business.

Panama’s government health agency used the substance to produce medicines, not realizing that it was diethylene glycol, a chemical cousin of antifreeze that can cause kidney and neurological damage if ingested.

[thecrow]

29. I saw this story as a setup to the bill being passed.

I mean, who's going to fact check the "Thousands" of deaths by cough syrup in Panama?

Don't you think that if thousands were killed because of ONE BAD INGREDIENT that we would've heard about it all over the place?

[piedmont]

30. What on earth are you talking about? The article I linke to said *dozens* were killed, not thousands

And we are hearing about it all over the place: http://www.google.com/search?q=china+panama+medicine&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

Here's a story by La Prensa, Panama City's newspaper:
http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2007/02/22/hoy/panorama/898304.html
Babel Fish translation:
"The Medicina Institute Legal (IML) will today send to the Office of the public prosecutor Fourth Superior its conclusions on 80 files of people whose deaths suspicion were happened after ingesting medicines with dietilene glycol, by such reason recommend new corpse exhumations. The director of the IML, Jose Vicente Pachar, informed yesterday that of the total of analyzed files, between 20% and 30% they reflect doubts on the causes of the deaths, reason why the exhumation of the bodies will be suggested. In another 40% of the cases there are sufficient evidences that the deceases were to ingest the toxic, which will be added to the 51 official deaths."


Bottom line: Chinese failure to regulate and monitor their manufacturing and food production puts consumers at risk and gives its industries an unfair advantage when competing with honest manufacturers who operate under stricter safety protocols.

[Vinca]

32. If you buy drugs from a reputable Canadian pharmacy they're as safe

as anything you can buy here. If you take your chances with a "deal" that comes via spam email, you're an idiot. Some states have actually certified some Canadian pharmacies. We've bought from a company called Canada Drug and have been very satisfied. The service has been excellent and they even sent us a Christmas card! (Walgreens, on the other hand, lost my husband's prescription.)

[reprobate]

34. I want them to reintroduce it as a stand alone bill.

Then let's see who supports it and who doesn't, without the complications that this one had attached to it.

Want to bet that many Dems still will vote against it. They know where their campaign contributions come from, don't they?

I certainly hope that there will be some super progressive new candidates in the '08 election for congress.

Move On, are you paying attention?

[piedmont]

35. I'm not familiar with this bill. Does it only apply to imports from Canada? nt