WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representatives Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) last night submitted a new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to enable licensed American pharmacies and wholesalers to import prescription drugs from a limited number of foreign markets.

 

“The crux of this bill is to make it safer for Americans to get the prescription drugs they depend on for good health.  Right now, we have a system in which the high cost of medicines prevents miracle cures from reaching those who truly need miracles,” Emerson said.  “Our proposal includes chain-of-custody requirements, anti-counterfeiting safeguards, and standardization for a system that has Americans relying
on Internet warehouses, a mail order black market, and bus drivers who take them to Canada or Mexico when they should be seeing their neighborhood pharmacist.  This proposal is the safest thing going, and a good deal for seniors and taxpayers, to boot.”

 

The measure has strong support in the Senate from Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Jim Jeffords (I-VT), John McCain (R-AZ), Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), all of whom joined Emerson and Brown at a press conference yesterday to announce tripartisan cooperation on the bill.

 

“Our next order of business is to obtain a vote on this important issue in both houses of Congress.  I know we will be successful, because this is an issue that the American people understand very well.  The budget of the American family ought to be more important in Congress than the bottom line of a pharmaceutical company,” Emerson said.

 

A similar measure passed in the House of Representatives last year, but was not taken up by the Senate.  This year, the Senate HELP Committee is expected to hold a hearing on market access in the next 90 days.

 

For a PDF copy of H.R. 700, please contact Jeffrey Connor.