PhRMA Opposes Drug Import Amendment in 2001 Spending Bill.(Brief Article)

Chemical Market Reporter, August, 2000

WHILE PHARMACEUTICAL manufacturers continue to oppose efforts to create a new Medicare drug benefit that could lead to price controls, the industry is also furiously lobbying against a more immediate concern: a drug-import provision in both the House and Senate versions of a fiscal 2001 spending bill.

The language was added to annual funding bills for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by both chambers in differing forms last month on lopsided votes. The measures are designed to give American consumers access to cheaper prescription drugs. Under the Senate proposal, pharmacists and wholesalers could import prescription drugs that were originally made in the US or in FDA-approved facilities. "This would give pharmacists and wholesalers the...