Reid ‘Guarantees’ Action on Prescription Drug Reimportation Ban

[ProSense]

Reid ‘Guarantees’ Action on Prescription Drug Reimportation Ban

By Mike Lillis 9/22/09 4:35 PM Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) vowed Tuesday that the Senate this year will consider controversial legislation allowing Americans to buy their prescription drugs from abroad, where they sell for much less than they do domestically.

In a Sept. 22 letter to Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Reid promised that if the issue isn’t tackled during the debate over comprehensive health care reform, he “guarantee(s)” consideration of a free-standing bill “before the end of the year.”

Dorgan, McCain and Snowe are all sponsors of a bill allowing U.S.-licensed pharmacies to import FDA-approved medications from Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would save American consumers $50 billion over the next decade.

The proposal is popular with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, but the pharmaceutical industry — arguing that the safety of importing drugs from abroad can’t be guaranteed — has had great success lobbying the proposal to death in recent years.

Indeed, despite the 30 co-sponsors lined up in support of the Dorgan-Snowe-McCain bill, Reid warned the lawmakers that passage “will not be easy.”

S.525
Title: A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the importation of prescription drugs, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Dorgan, Byron L. (introduced 3/4/2009) Cosponsors (29)
Related Bills: H.R.1298, S.1232
Latest Major Action: 3/4/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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COSPONSORS(29), ALPHABETICAL : (Sort: by date)

Sen Begich, Mark - 3/4/2009
Sen Bingaman, Jeff - 3/4/2009
Sen Boxer, Barbara - 5/7/2009
Sen Brown, Sherrod - 3/4/2009
Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. - 3/4/2009
Sen Collins, Susan M. - 3/4/2009
Sen Conrad, Kent - 3/23/2009
Sen Durbin, Richard - 3/4/2009
Sen Feingold, Russell D. - 3/4/2009
Sen Grassley, Chuck - 3/4/2009
Sen Inouye, Daniel K. - 3/4/2009
Sen Johnson, Tim - 3/4/2009
Sen Kennedy, Edward M. - 3/4/2009
Sen Kerry, John F. - 3/4/2009
Sen Klobuchar, Amy - 3/17/2009
Sen Kohl, Herb - 3/4/2009
Sen Leahy, Patrick J. - 3/4/2009
Sen Levin, Carl - 3/4/2009
Sen Lincoln, Blanche L. - 7/14/2009
Sen McCain, John - 3/4/2009
Sen McCaskill, Claire - 3/4/2009
Sen Nelson, Bill - 3/4/2009
Sen Sanders, Bernard - 3/4/2009
Sen Shaheen, Jeanne - 3/4/2009
Sen Snowe, Olympia J. - 3/4/2009
Sen Specter, Arlen - 3/17/2009
Sen Stabenow, Debbie - 3/4/2009
Sen Tester, Jon - 3/4/2009
Sen Thune, John - 3/4/2009