The US House of Representatives voted to make it easier for individuals to import low cost prescription drugs from foreign countries for their own use, after rejecting a more sweeping proposal to allow bulk imports by drug wholesalers and pharmacies.
Both proposals reflected growing concern about high drug costs among US consumers. Similar legislation passed the US House and Senate last year, but it included an escape clause that was invoked by both the Clinton and Bush administrations, which said that the import plan would not be safe. This clause effectively allowed both presidents to quash previous efforts at putting these rules into place.
If the current bill is signed into law by the president, the White House will not be able to circumvent the popular measure—known as reimportation. Increasingly, Americans are looking to foreign countries as a source of prescription drugs, and the government contends that most such imports are illegal. Drug prices are often lower outside the United States, partly because other countries control prices differently.
Thousands of Americans from California and Arizona now travel to Mexico for medicine, while residents of some northern border states go to Canada. If the proposal becomes law, they could instead legally use the internet, the post, or a fax machine to order drugs from foreign pharmacies—provided that the drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Drug companies mobilised lobbyists to oppose the legislation, saying that it would allow the sale of adulterated and counterfeit drugs, which pose huge risks to consumers. Alan Holmer, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said that the amendment would “open up the possibility for individuals to bring into the country medicines that may not be as safe or effective as they appear.”
“Because the danger still exists, we will continue to oppose the personal use exemption in the Senate,” he said.
President Bush endorsed easing the rules on drug imports in the campaign last year. But this week the White House and the FDA opposed the measures, saying they could “result in unsafe, unapproved or counterfeit drugs being imported into the United States”. Many doubt that the White House would try to block the measure once it makes it to the president's desk for his signature.