State chamber criticizes drug imports

The Missouri State Chamber of Commerce and Industry has joined the chorus of critics who say it is impossible to ensure the safety of imported drugs bought individually by American consumers.

Permitting drug imports from foreign countries is a potentially dangerous approach to the problem of rising prescription costs, Dan Mehan, president and CEO of the state chamber, said Tuesday.

"Our concern is safety," Mehan said. "Let the buyer beware."

The chamber is taking an official position a month after two congressional reports reached similar conclusions. The reports were ordered by Congress in 2003 after the Republican leadership thwarted efforts to pass legislation legalizing expanded importation.

Going against her party majority, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, was one of the sponsors of the Prescription Drug Price Reduction Act. The legislation would have allowed pharmacists and wholesalers to import American-made prescription medicine from a specific list of foreign markets, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Germany, France and Italy.

Under current law, pharmacists and distributors in the United States are not allowed access to foreign markets to purchase even American-made pharmaceuticals, which are sold for much lower prices abroad. Unlike the United States, many other countries in the industrialized world have price controls for prescription drugs.

Mehan called importing drugs from other countries -- mainly Canada -- a "quick fix" and said since medicines distributed from other countries are not approved by FDA inspectors it calls into question their purity and safety.

"We know drugs cost a significant amount of money, but this is simply dangerous," he said.

While some Americans buy prescription drugs through Internet pharmacies in Canada, there is no way to guarantee the drugs were produced in Canada, Mehan said. He said some drugs being produced in other countries are being routed through Canada because of the country's reputation as a source for less expensive, quality drugs.

Canada now also appears to be on the verge of limiting drug exports. Canada's health minister has said: "We cannot be the drug store for the United States."

Such limitations would force importers to look overseas for drugs, Mehan said, opening the door to counterfeits, unapproved generics and improper refrigeration of drugs and poor labeling.

On Tuesday Emerson said she still thinks drug importation could work.

"After many years of careful study and numerous hearings on the issue, I firmly believe that the reimportation of prescription drugs can be done safely and would save the American public billions of dollars in prescription drug costs," she said in a prepared statement in reaction to the chamber's position.

Local pharmacists contacted said they don't think drug importation would be good for consumers. They said they realize it looks like pharmacists are against importation because it would cut into their profits, but they said that is only part of their consideration.

"A lot of the public feels we're against it because we don't want people buying medicine overseas," said Keith Middleton, a pharmacist at Broadway Prescription Shop in Cape Girardeau. "But what we worry about is that we don't know where these other countries are getting their drugs from."

Steve Horst of Horst Pharmacy in Jackson agreed, though he said the situation puts pharmacists in an awkward position.

"It's a mess to tell you the truth," he said. "It's against the law, but the FDA isn't cracking down on people buying from other countries. It's hard for us because how do you go against little grandma? Ninety-five percent of that medicine could be good medicine, but what about the other 1 to 5 percent?"

Ben Tally of Medicap Pharmacy in Cape Girardeau said buying medicine from Canada simply isn't the solution.

"If we went up and bought up all of Canada's medicine and brought back every bit of it, it wouldn't fill a hollow tooth of what we use," he said. "If we take all of their medicine, it would only fill 5 percent of our need. So Canada can't be the answer."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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