As part of an agriculture spending bill, House and Senate Republicans late Thursday put the final touches on their measure for allowing the importation of drugs that U.S. pharmaceutical makers market abroad. Republicans a day earlier had ended bipartisan negotiations to push their own package. But a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said Republicans were helping seniors. The measure is meant to lower the cost of drugs in the United States, something drug companies have lobbied against.
Some drugs manufactured in the United States are much cheaper in Canada, Mexico and other countries.
U.S. drug companies have raised safety concerns about the imported U.S. drugs, and the measure requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services ensure safeguards are in place to protect consumers, including a requirement that wholesalers submit records on the type of drugs imported and where they are shipped. Still, Democrats claimed Republicans had gutted the plan by agreeing to give drug companies broad discretion over contracts with overseas buyers. Democrats worried that drug companies would discourage importers, restrict supplies, inflate prices and make the entire program nonfunctional. Republicans argued that stricter controls might violate trade and patent laws. The importation proposal initially had attracted Democratic and Republican support as lawmakers, gridlocked over a prescription drug benefit and patients' rights, sought a health care measure they could pass before adjourning.