Kerry Would Allow Overseas Drug Imports; FDA Worries

[Nambe]

http://www.international.nasdaq.com/asp/gmWorldNews.asp&headl">By Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has said he would allow Americans to legally buy less expensive prescription drugs from Canada and other countries if he is elected president.

Kerry would be following the lead of a handful of states and cities that have set up web sites directing their citizens to pharmacies in Canada that typically sell brand-name drugs at prices that can be half the price consumers pay in the U.S.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to announce as early as today that he will set up a web site to direct consumers to sites in the U.K. and Ireland as well as Canada.

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration have long warned consumers about risks of importing drugs from Canada because they can't guarantee the safety or the source of the drugs. ..

[Sub Atomic]

1. They can't guarantee the safety?

Or they can no longer be guaranteed an enormous profit from the American consumer?

[eightyferrettoes]

26. Can you say "free trade?"

I thought conservatives were really into that stuff!

[patdem]

2. Seems they cannot guarantee the American drugs either...

since Americans cannot sue because the drugs are bogus!!!

[TahitiNut]

3. "guarantee the safety or the source of the drugs."???

Since when does the FDA offer any such "guarantee" and how does anyone collect when that "guarantee" isn't met? Are we talking personal injury and product liability suits here? In that case, the FDA has nothing to do with it. If the drug itself is 'approved,' then how do they cover generic forms of the drug according to 'source'? Safety? Like Thalidomide? Like Halcyon?

This is another case of pure deceitful bullshit from the Busholini Cabal, imho. The FDA doesn't "guarantee" a fucking thing!

[xray s]

4. Kerry should ask this question

If American drug companies are allowed to manufacture and import drugs from other countries to resell here at inflated prices, why shouldn't Americans be allowed to import drugs from other countries directly, to save money?

[theoceansnerves]

5. can't guarantee their safety...

right, because we all know there is an epidemic of people in foreign countries dying off because they took "unsafe" prescription drugs. i mean, you hear about it every day...

[bearfan454]

6. Go Kerry !

I pay $298 every 3 months for my meds. I have to have them too.

[depakid]

7. The FDA lacks any credibility these days

It supresses reports of its own researchers, if they don't comport with PhRMa's wishes, so why should anyone believe what they have to say on this matter?

Kerry needs to seriously clean house at this agency before I'll believe word one from them without independent confirmation.

[Jacobin]

13. FDA very concerned about drug company profits

FDA is totally bought off and run by drug company reps. It is the fox living in the hen house.

Used to be illegal to advertise prescription drugs. Now, they spend far more on ADVERTISING prescription drugs than they do on research (the vaunted reason for the high price).

Doctors uniformly are against advertising drugs, because patients come in demanding something doctors may or may not think they should have.

Our whole medical/hospital/drug industry is totally corrupted.

[kohodog]

19. That's the point.

Bushco is all about protecting corporate profits, whatever the impact to the average family/citizen. God forbid "insourcing" should help the average family!

[girl gone mad]

8. Try telling someone who can't otherwise..

afford their life-saving medication that they shouldn't be allowed to import that medicine on the off chance that it might be counterfeit. Does that even make any sense?

There are many websites which can point you to reputable foreign pharmacies and steer you away from less knowledgeable pharmacists and scam artists, which is already more protection than we have for American pharmacies (and many Americans die each year because of mistakes made by pharmacists).

[calico1]

9. Funny how you never hear stories

of Canadians dropping dead from taking these same drugs that people used to buy there. Wonder why? :eyes:

[allalone]

28. funny you should mention that

I noticed that whenever I go Canada, there are dead Canadians all over the place.

[JuniorPlankton]

10. Not to say anything good about the FDA, but

this whole 'import drugs from Canada' thing is pretty dumb.
Canada consumes about 2% of world's drugs, the US takes a multiple of that. Once the imports reach a sizable volume, the drug prices in Canada will get to the US level.
It's one thing to allow states to negotiate with the pharm companies, but to just import drugs from Canada... it's just can't work.

[stickdog]

14. What are you talking about? Canada gets its discount due to quantity break

negotiation.

How will a bigger order diminish the quantity break?

[takumi]

11. Illinois Helps Residents Import Drugs

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040817/us_nm/health_drugs_illinois_dc_9

[DiverDave]

12. Lets kick the pharma company's

in the balls, and tell them the trough is dry.
THEY are the problem!
Get to the root, and drag it out.
Money grubbing bastards, IMO.

[Keilwerth41]

15. This is a Red Herring

You can never have drug reimportation because the minute you start reimporting these drugs the prices will go up.

What we SHOULD be doing is making European countries, who can't make drugs of their own, get rid of their price ceilings so everyone in the world has to pay the same for these drugs. US companies make all the drugs and the only way they can generate enough revenue to invest in research and development is to charge higher prices in the U.S. If every country did what France does we'd have many more sick people and many fewer good drugs on the market.

Diplomacy is the answer, Not reimportation.

[demoman123]

23. How do you know this?

>>>>>US companies make all the drugs and the only way they can generate enough revenue to invest in research and development is to charge higher prices in the U.S. <<<<<

How do you know this? Are you so intimately familiar with their balance sheets and their actual costs of R&D?

If so, give us a source for this information.

[Kool Kitty]

24. I believe that the drug companies get

money from the government for research.

[Dem2theMax]

27. NBC did a story on this on Nightly News tonight.

I was half listening from another room, but I did hear the reporter say that the US and Canada BOTH import a lot of the exact same drugs from countries overseas - and that we (US) pay a heck of a lot more for those same drugs than the Canadians do.

[sphincter]

16. Wake up and smell the B.S....

The only thing the FDA "checks" is the amount of money they get from the drugcompanies to "approve" a drug.

[RebelYell]

17. I order my dog's antibiotics from Thailand because they're

1/10th the cost.

The pills inside the blister pack say "Pfizer". Just like the ones I get from my vet. There is NO DIFF except the price!

[kohodog]

20. Hi Rebel,

We can't afford our 12yr. old shepherds meds. I'll try to find a connection in Thailand!

[RebelYell]

21. What med is it?

I'll find it CHEAP for you.

Dogs are my life. I'd give up hubby for my dogs, and he knows it.

[RebelYell]

22. P.S.

Expect to get some nasty letters from the FDA, Customs and Homeland Security. Send them a written script and they'll stop harrassing you. There must be a few dog/animals lovers that still see the stupidity of their laws.

[BrotherBuzz]

18. News flash!!! President Kerry fires the MORANS at FDA...

and hires a crew with some brains.

[SoCalDem]

25. The "solution" here is EASY,....

The pharm companies need to be slapped back to reality.. The should be allowed to make a profit...BUT...not TOTALLY at the expense of the US customers.. Maybe they need to be HIGHLY REGULATED and forced to cut corners in their CEO/Board of Directors' slushfund..

They get FEDERAL money and University grants to develop the drugs (PUBLIC MONEY)...and then SOAK us all...

It's extortion and we have all had it up to HERE..