Today U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Rep. Kim Schrier are holding a roundtable in Issaquah, WA on prescription drug prices, but Murray’s recent legislation to lower drug prices by potentially creating a pathway for personal importation of prescription drugs from Canada does more harm than good cautions the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation. In June the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Senator Murray, advanced the FDA Safety and Landmark Advancements (FDASLA) Act that gives FDA discretionary authority to develop a regulatory pathway for safe personal drug importation from Canada.
“American prescription drug prices are out of control and unaffordable for far too many, that is why we applaud Senator Murray’s efforts to lower drug prices. However her FDA Safety and Landmark Advancements bill does more harm than good for Americans currently importing,” states Jack Pfeiffer, Executive Director of the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation. “Approving a pathway for Americans to personally import safe and affordable medicines from licensed Canadian pharmacies is the only way for Congress to deliver immediate relief from the devastatingly high costs of prescription drugs. We hope issues with the bill can be addressed before final passage.”
Key Importation Wins in the Senate FDA Safety and Landmark Advancements Act:
Outlines potential opportunities for the FDA to create regulations for importing prescription drugs for personal use, in a safe way that confirms validity.
Affirms a 90 day supply quantity cap for personal prescription importation.
FDASLA Improvements Needed:
Inclusion of existing statutory protection for the millions of Americans currently imported medicines for personal use.
Mandate legal pathway for personal importation. The current bill leaves far too much discretion to government bureaucrats to block personal importation or never create an importation program at all.
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