Senate health debate hits snag over imported drugs: FDA/White House raise "safety" concerns

[Better Believe It]

Senate health debate hits snag over imported drugs
The idea of expanding access to lower-cost prescription medicines from overseas has broad support, but opposition from the U.S. drug industry could endanger the healthcare overhaul.
By Janet Hook and Tom Hamburger
Decmeber 11, 2009

Reporting from Washington - Expanding access to low-cost prescription drugs from overseas might look like a sure winner in the effort to make healthcare more affordable. President Obama supports the idea, as do many Democrats and several Republicans.

But the seemingly popular proposal brought the Senate healthcare debate to a standstill Thursday, as Democrats divided over whether they should bow to the drug industry's fierce opposition.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) temporarily halted consideration of the healthcare bill after three days of inconclusive debate on an amendment by Sens. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.). The provision would allow pharmacies and wholesalers to import drugs from countries with safety standards comparable to America's.

Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration announced in a letter that it opposed Dorgan's amendment because it would be "logistically challenging" to implement and raised "significant" concerns about drug safety.

The George W. Bush administration also cited safety issues in opposing importation.

The White House issued formal statements saying that the president backs the concept of importation -- but has concerns about its safety.

"The president supports reimportation of safe and effective drugs," said White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass. "The Food and Drug Administration has raised safety concerns about the current proposal and will continue exploring policy options to create a pathway to importing safe and effective drugs."

Read the full article at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-health-senate11-2009dec11,0,1002684.story

[villager]

1. "Unsafe" for the profit margins of big pharma? Don't want any change the corporations

...can't believe in!

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. I don't want medicine from a third world country like Canada!!1!!!

The pills might be too clean and well organized!

The pharmacist might be too polite!

[Vincardog]

3. Why can't we buy our drugs from the same countries that Big Pharma does?

Why is it safe for them to import our drugs and not for us?
OH yeah because they make BIG BUCKS selling us the drugs.

[PADemD]

4. They are imported now!