WASHINGTON, D.C.—In advance of today’s PhRMA’s staff “briefing” on prescription drug importation, U.S. Representatives Rahm Emanuel (IL-5), Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8), Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), and Marion Berry (AR-1) released the top five facts PhRMA won’t tell you  in today’s session:

#5  The same brand name drugs cost 35-55% percent less in other countries than they do in the United States. - The Congressional Budget Office

#4 Drug importation has been in place in the European Union for more than 20 years with no safety problems. – Dr. Peter Rost, Former Vice President of Marketing, Pfizer

#3 The pharmaceutical industry has imported drugs and sold them in the U.S. for decades. In fact, 40 percent of the drugs consumed by Americans today are made in foreign manufacturing plants.  – Congress Daily, June 5, 2007

#2 Prescription drug importation will result in $50 billion in direct savings alone over the next decade, a $10 billion benefit to the federal budget. – The Congressional Budget Office

#1 Passage of the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act will finally assure the security of our drug supply.

“The fact is the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act will do what the pharmaceutical industry has failed to do.  Our bill will take the necessary steps to assure the security of our drug supply by implementing tracking, pedigrees, and anti-counterfeiting measures,” said Emanuel.  “For too long the Congress has let the pharmaceutical industry stand in the way of keeping safe and affordable prescription drugs out of the hands of the consumers.  With this bipartisan legislation, we can help the American consumers benefit from a truly open and competitive marketplace.” 

“Safe, legal, affordable medications are shipped into the United States every single day.  Without a policy of importation that includes licensed pharmacists and wholesalers, however, those prescription drugs can only be imported by big drug companies.  They are strongly motivated to control supplies, and they do so at great profit.  Instead of trying to cut American senior citizens off from the only supplies of medicine that they can afford, name-brand pharmaceutical companies should be focusing on more relevant drug safety issues, such as the inexcusably sparse attention to the $1.45 billion in prescription drugs coming to the U.S. each year from China and India,” said Emerson.

“For the pharmaceutical industry to use a misleading campaign to scare the American public on the issue of drug re-importation merely reinforces the notion that drug companies are only interested in protecting their profits rather than the public health.   Prescription drugs can be imported into the U.S. safely and effectively while providing significant savings to consumers,” said DeLauro.  “The drug companies have repeatedly demonstrated the influence they have gained within the FDA and the Bush Administration.  It is time for Congress and the American people to demonstrate that we are not so easily swayed.”

“PhRMA once again proves that it is more interested in posting another quarter of record-breaking profit margins rather than providing affordable prescription drugs to the American consumer,” said Berry.  “This crucial legislation will help Americans afford the life-saving drugs they need.”

In January of 2007, Emanuel and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8) introduced the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act (HR 380).  The legislation would allow individuals to directly order medications from outside the U.S. when using a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-registered and approved Canadian pharmacy.  FDA would examine, register and inspect these facilities on a frequent basis.  It would also allow U.S. licensed pharmacists and wholesalers to import FDA-approved medications from a number of major industrialized nations and pass along the savings to their customers. The FDA would also ensure the highest standards for such essential functions as recording medical history, verifying prescriptions, and tracking shipments.  HR 380 enjoys wide bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.