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There has been lots of discussion in the press lately about the disparity between drug prices in the United States and that in other countries. There have been many stories about seniors driving to Canada or Mexico to buy drugs at prices significantly lower than prices they could get in the United States. Unfortunately, current federal law makes this an illegal practice, although it is not usually prosecuted. In a really dramatic presentation, Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota took a bus load of seniors across the Canadian border, where they bought drugs at significantly lower prices than in the United States. He then stood before the Senate and held up identical bottles of pills, some purchased in the U.S. and others in Canada, to illustrate the price differences. According to a study by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), prices in the U.S. are, on average, about 34 percent higher than in Canada for the same FDA-approved medicines, manufactured in the same FDA-approved factories, and often even packaged and sold in the same bottles. It is not unusual for Americans to be charged two, three, and even ten times as much for the same prescription medicines than consumers in other countries.

Legislation to make drug imporation legal was added as an amendment to HR 4461, the appropriations bill for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. The "Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act of 2000" passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 74 to 21 last July. The amendment was authored by Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and Senator Byron Dorgan. The amendment would allow wholesalers and pharmacists to import FDA-approved prescription drugs and would establish a new safety system intended to track these imports and test them for authenticity and degradation. Efforts are under way to hammer out a compromise bill and get it passed before Congress adjourns October 6. The plan made major gains this week, picking up endorsements from President Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL). Senate and House Minority Leaders Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Dick Gephardt (D-MO) also support the plan.

Opponents, including the drug manufacuring industry, said that the bill would jeopardize the safety of Americans, since bans on imported drugs were originally implemented to protect Americans from counterfeit or adulterated drugs. This law was passed in 1988, and states that only the drug manufacturer may import pharmaceuticals into the U.S., making criminals out of consumers who bring in small quantities of drugs from other countries. They have been successful in getting adjusting the language of the bill to state that, before this provision could take effect, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would be required to certify that the regulations would pose no risk to the public health and significantly decrease prices paid by consumers.

The White House estimates the FDA will need an additional $23 million a year in order to develop and implement a process to oversee foreign drug plants. The FDA says it will need $90 million more a year.

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