|
No free trade with canadian drugs { March 11 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/8480232p-9409099c.htmlhttp://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/8480232p-9409099c.html
Canada drug bills advance
By Lisa Rapaport -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Thursday, March 11, 2004
The California Senate's health committee approved several bills Wednesday that would help state health programs and individual consumers buy cheaper medicines from Canada.
A broad coalition of groups representing seniors, patients, consumers, doctors and unions backed the proposals and called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to join a growing number of governors nationwide who are pressuring senior Bush administration officials to legalize prescription drug imports from Canada.
Though it is illegal, at least 25 states and scores of cities are weighing proposals to buy medications from Canada, where price controls make brand name drugs up to 80 percent cheaper than in the United States.
Gov. Schwarzenegger has yet to take a position on any of the drug importation bills, said his spokeswoman Ashley Snee. He has concerns about how to ensure the quality, safety and legality of any foreign drugs bought by California but remains "interested in learning more about the issue from everybody involved in the debate," Snee said.
In California, the drug import battle is being waged on two fronts.
Some lawmakers are looking north of the border for a way to trim state spending on drugs during a grave budget crisis.
One bill approved in the health committee, SB 1144 by John Burton, D-San Francisco, would enable state health programs including those in prisons and public universities to buy Canadian drugs. Another measure, SB 1333 by Don Perata, D-Oakland, would enable drug stores to purchase Canadian drugs to dispense to poor people insured by Medi-Cal.
"This is an issue where California, one of the largest purchasers of prescription drugs in the country, needs to take a stand to save taxpayers money," Perata said.
On a separate but parallel front, lawmakers are also looking to help individual consumers save money on drugs. One bill approved by the Senate committee, SB 1149 by Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, would set up a Web site to steer patients to state-approved licensed Canadian pharmacies and also warn patients of fraudulent foreign drug stores to avoid.
"This purchasing is already going on, and it will continue to go on whether the state helps consumers or not," Ortiz said. "I believe California has an obligation to step up and ensure that consumers are protected against fraud or injury when they go online to buy Canadian drugs."
Despite the federal import ban, an estimated 1 million patients nationwide buy Canadian drugs, accounting for at least $1 billion in annual prescription sales.
Drug makers, strongly opposed to Canadian import proposals under consideration in California and elsewhere in the country, raised concerns about the safety of foreign drugs and the potential for imports to wreak havoc in the state's biotech industry.
Fred Noteware, testifying on behalf of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry trade group, said "the top drug regulators in both the United States and Canada have made it clear they cannot stipulate to the safety of drugs once they move across the border."
Sally Pipes, representing the Pacific Research Institute, a free trade advocacy group based in San Francisco, said California's top biotech firms would leave the state if drug import efforts went ahead. Venture funding for drug development depends on the high prices new medicines can get on the U.S. market, Pipes said.
Capturing consumers' frustration over the high price of medications, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, drew raucous applause from the dozens of seniors at the hearing with her response to drug makers' complaints about Canadian price controls.
"What I call extortion is what pharmaceutical companies have done to American consumers," Kuehl said.
Most of the Canadian drug bills face at least one more committee hearing before they can be put to a vote on the Senate floor. But lawmakers behind the measures said they had good odds of success and every expectation that Schwarzenegger would work with them to reach some solution to the escalating drug costs faced by state health programs and consumers alike.
"California needs to take a stand against the federal government," said Perata. "We need to force them to change the law."
|
|
