Senate blocks bid to allow drug imports

[denverbill]

Source: Yahoo

WASHINGTON - The Senate effectively killed a bid to allow consumers to buy their prescription medicines abroad Monday, requiring U.S. officials to certify the safety and effectiveness of such drugs.
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The certification amendment, passed on a 49-40 vote, would require health officials to do something they have long said they cannot.

Because of that, the vote undercut a second measure that would permit prescription drug imports from
Food and Drug Administration-approved sources in Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan and New Zealand.

The Bush administration opposes allowing imports of prescription drugs, and the White House had threatened a veto.
<snip>



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070507/ap_on_go_co/imported_drugs;_ylt=Ahxg4n1Mwyue0o4vBVfoOatg.3QA

---

Unbelievable. 11 people missed this vote. How could this fail in a Democratic majority Senate?

[AX10]

1. This is embarrassing.

Even though our majority is small, we could not get 51 votes but they got their 49 together.

[Doctor_J]

2. That's why our majority will last only two years

With the cave-in on the Iraq withdrawal, and shit like this, what's the sense of voting Dem? Al we have gotten from last year's "victory" are a bunch of inquiries by Waxman that have led to exactly zero prosecutions and resignations. Our 2008 slogan:

We kept it from being worse

[MUAD_DIB]

5. Wow, with support like yours I wonder how the Dems won in 06...

:eyes:

[Psephos]

42. Consider what aversion to self-criticism did for the repugs

It will do the same for us.

:eyes:

[MUAD_DIB]

46. I don't regard defeatism before defeat as self-criticism.

[Psephos]

48. Once the election's over, critique doesn't matter anymore

Strength and improvement come from not being afraid to call 'em as we see 'em. Anything less than that is denial.

The O.P. is frustrated, and used rhetorically sardonic language to make his/her point. True defeatism would involve not caring anymore. That's not where the O.P. is at. He/she cares, as do most of us here.

It's hardly surprising that pols act as they do, regardless of their party, because of the structure of political life, its temptations, and its influences. It's our responsibility to commend those who act well and criticize those who don't.

IMO real defeatism would be to not learn from the foolish behavior of repugs, and to put our fingers in our ears when someone points out the obvious.

No offense, just a different perspective. :)

[MUAD_DIB]

49. No offense taken.

[denverbill]

6. I can't wait to see a list of the no-shows.

I'm sure it will be a who's who of the DLC.

[cosmicdot]

20. roll call vote

Not Voting - 11

Allard (R-CO)
Biden (D-DE)
Brownback (R-KS)
Dodd (D-CT)
Ensign (R-NV)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Johnson (D-SD)
McCain (R-AZ)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Tester (D-MT)

YEAs ---49

Alexander (R-TN)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McConnell (R-KY)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-NE)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thomas (R-WY)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

NAYs ---40

Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cardin (D-MD)
Casey (D-PA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Craig (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Grassley (R-IA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lott (R-MS)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Nelson (D-FL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00151


"This is a setback for us. But the drug industry is one of the strongest industries in this town," Dorgan said.

so much for we the people

[silverojo]

27. Fuck Obama and Biden for their chickenshit no-shows n/t

[Elmer1007]

31. I live in Alabama and both of my Repugs voted no!!

Kerry and Kennedy voted Yes. this is wrong as I have to get my med from Canada due to the cost. Elmer.

[Emillereid]

47. Wow, I was shocked to see Kerry, Kennedy, Biden and Obama on the Yea

side. Defeating this bill would have applied a little pressure on Big Pharma to quit squeezing US citizens with their outrageous drug prices! I once ordered a fungal medication for my husband that our insurance didn't cover and whose price was close to a $1000 even at Costco. We got it from Brazil via a Canadian pharmacy for about $300. It worked just fine! Damn them

Kennedy also seems to sponsoring a bill that would give the industry ladened FDA control over supplements. etc. What is wrong with him! I for one want fundamental controll over what I choose to ingest and I certainly don't want Big Pharma in charge of supplements and the like.

[brentspeak]

15. Your "concern" is duly noted

[Triana]

35. DEFINITELY freakin EMBARASSING...

...THANKS, Dems. Puh. :mad:

[endarkenment]

3. Shameful.

Another failure in the senate. We need to vote a lot more republicans and dinos out.

[rodeodance]

4. The veto Pen------the new symbol of Bush's masulinity!!

[Trillo]

7. "How could this fail in a Democratic majority Senate?"

My gut instinct is "money". It's costly to fund an election campaign. The costlier it becomes, the more those with money get what they want. Simple as that.

[spotbird]

37. Kennedy and Kerry are now corporately owned too?

Strange, especially the Kennedy support.

[Trillo]

38. Line item voting is needed

Perhaps this is as good of an example as any as to why individual Congress members need line-item voting.

If there were portions of the bill that some Congresspeople wanted, they could have just voted for those portions, and against the others.

[Raven]

8. Well, at this point I wonder, if the government can't protect

pet food coming from abroad, how can we be sure of prescription drugs? I know, the answer to this is that Congress should rebuild the agencies that Bush has torn down but what do we do in the meantime?

[Kagemusha]

9. The point being, it's not the FDA's job to certify foreign drugs so it's de facto banning

That's the point of it.

[denverbill]

11. Considering the drugs are manufactured and often even packaged in the US,

I don't consider that much of an issue, especially if the countries involved have halfway decent drug safety laws, like Canada. Chinese and Canadian regulation are vastly different animals.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

44. or in the off shore plants owned by US companies,

either way, they are a hell of a lot cheaper abroad BECAUSE, those consumers have protection and governments that care about them, not big Pharma.

[Trillo]

12. It doesn't seem approval works to protect U.S. made drugs, either

"Since 1997, there has been a surge in the number of drugs withdrawn from the market for safety reasons, prompting many critics to question whether the FDA's accelerated approval process, funded in part by fees paid to the FDA by the manufacturers, has resulted in unsafe drugs being sold to consumers.

Here is a list of 12 prescription drugs that were withdrawn from 1997 to 2001, along with brief descriptions."

[Judi Lynn]

10. Th is is bad for everyone. Can't believe these Democrats didn't make a point

of being there to vote. It's no small matter. Unforgivable.

[lapfog_1]

13. Gee, thanks for protecting us from those cheap foreign drugs

now, how about that cheap foreign FOOD???

Assholes.

[denverbill]

14. Not to mention cheap foreign labor. n/t

[brentspeak]

16. Exactly

[ProudDad]

24. The drugs in question

the higher priced "patented" varieties are all manufactured by the major pharma companies.

The drugs addressed in this legislation isn't a "labor" issue... It's a LIFE OR DEATH issue.

Certain less affluent folks are less valuable than the more affluent and should be allowed to die.

[Baron Harkonen]

17. sellouts

"The pharmaceutical industry vehemently opposes allowing drug imports, arguing that they could leave the nation vulnerable to dangerous counterfeits."

translation:

I won't be able to afford my villa on the Mediterranean...Oh, and that 2 day work week.

[McCamy Taylor]

18. Could be backlash from the Chinese anti-freeze cough syrup scandal.

Dems may be afraid to go on record ok'ing this and then get caught when some Chinese medicine that people are bringing across the border from Mexico turns out to be full of poison that sickens and kills a bunch of American citizens.

[ohio2007]

19. exactly, is it really a bad thing

or a knee jerk reaction when this happens to US internet buyers


From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2835813&mesg_id=2835813

how could untested,unregulated drugs be allowed in especially from that biohazard waste nation China

[ProudDad]

25. The idea is that

states and municipalities be allowed to import prescription drugs for their citizens and for their health care infrastructure. The primary reason is to FORCE big pharma to lower their prices in the U.S.

I don't believe that officials will be allowing bogus or tainted drugs in the country. We get enough of that from big pharma already!

Can you say "Celebrex" or "Vioxx", children...

[rmgarrette64]

40. I don't think that would be the result

First off, I don't think allowing re-importation would force pharmaceutical companies to lower their U.S. prices. I think they'd be more likely to raise their overseas prices. I base this, by the way, on their profit margins - which have been good, but far from stellar overall. I don't actually think they have tremendous margin to cut to begin with, especially when any errors (see Merck) can have devastating results. As such, if we try to force price harmonization, I suspect we'll see more price increases overseas.

Of course, some won't care if poor people overseas lose their medication. OK, OK, more likely, poor countries will simply violate patents, or sieze them, or whatever. The upshot there is also obvious. There will be fewer pharmaceutical companies, and they'll do less research. Why would they do more, after all, if they can't make money on it? (Note, there's an alternative. They might just spend ever more researching non-lifesaving drugs, like Viagra and diet drugs, that people won't break the patents.)

Anyway, I suspect that's the trade. We get more people to have existing medicines, but won't improve as much in the future. I like the fact that we can treat so much now with medication. And I think we have so many meds because people have been able to make money off of them. I don't like the fact that we in the U.S. pay more for them, effectively subsidizing much of the world, but am willing to accept that.

Oh, and my brother-in-law works at Merck, so I do hear that side of the story. Probably does have some influence on my thinking...

R. Garrett

[ProudDad]

43. Merck

and the rest of those fucking bandits lie, lie, lie...

They VASTLY overcharge us and, next to the oil companies, are the MOST PROFITABLE COMPANIES in the country.

WE pay for most of the research out of our tax dollars and then THEY get the profits. Then, after the drug companies have milked us for the first go-around of the patented drug, they change a molocule or two and then FUCK US OVER AGAIN!!!

I'd be happier if there WERE NO DRUG COMPANIES. Health care is a RIGHT and the god damn drug companies ROB US OF OUR RIGHTS!

To put it kindly, your brother-in-law is a highly impeachable source.

GOD DAMN, I'm so tired of the bullshit meme that the only motivator for REAL INNOVATION and progress is a mindless drive for obscene profits!!! IT'S LOW GRADE CRAP and deadly for most of our health and well being!

[SnoopDog]

21. Obviously, 49 Senators get alot of 'contributions' from the drug companies

49 Senators selling out our seniors... Rather disgusting. This is why America is failing.

And alot of Democrats are in that 49 vote count.

I recommend 'recommending' this thread - we all need to pressure our Dem Senators as well. It is our job...

[fightthegoodfightnow]

22. Drug Companies Sedate Congress

Source: The Guardian Unlimited

Senate Vote Blocks Imported Drugs
Tuesday May 8, 2007 1:01 AM
By ANDREW BRIDGES
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a triumph for the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate on Monday killed a drive to allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from abroad at a significant savings over domestic prices.

On a 49-40 vote, the Senate required the administration to certify the safety and effectiveness of imported drugs before they can be imported, a requirement that officials have said they cannot meet.

``Well, once again the big drug companies have proved that they are the most powerful and best financed lobby in Washington,'' said Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6615677,00.html

---

You know things are bad when seniors are going on line to buy illegal drugs from Canada. Health care in this country is in need of major surgery.

[ProudDad]

23. So the Hall of Shame contains:

Biden (D-DE)
Dodd (D-CT)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Tester (D-MT)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-NE)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)

and the ever-present lying fuck Lieberman (ID-CT)


The one I REALLY don't understand is Kennedy???

[silverojo]

28. Kennedy would rather import illegal immigrants than drugs

Talk about priorities! Let's try giving amnesty to life-saving medications, you bloated bastard!

[ohio2007]

41. He would rather rely on oil instead of wind farms off his states coast...LOL

What a windbag

[classysassy]

26. There are no fools

like old fools.The crooked old senators,taking money from the drug firms,the senior citizens that continue to be fooled by bush and his gang of criminals.This country need a complete house and senate cleaning to remove the stench of lobbyist and the bribe takers.Wake up America,lets get our lanterns and go out in the streets and find a few honest men and women to represent the people and their country.

[Vinca]

29. This is stunning. I knew it was coming up for a vote, but didn't watch

because - foolishly - I thought it was a no brainer. This is very discouraging. Sometimes it's hard not to give up on this country.

[april]

30. oh no not durgs Only food..this is b.s.

[raccoon]

32. I heard about this on NPR this morning.

The Senate is beholden to their Big Pharma contributors, and care more about their profits than whether you or I can afford our prescription meds. Surprise, surprise. :sarcasm:

[jtrockville]

33. This legislation was for REimports, wasn't it?

[Czolgosz]

34. I'm disgusted. I was leaning toward Obama. This pushes me the other way.

[bornskeptic]

36. Legislating is a hard and often thankless job.

Kennedy, Kerry, and other Democrats voted for the Cochran amendment because they wanted to get something accomplished. The bill to which it was attached contains provisions which they regard as important, and which would be lost if the Dorgan amendment passed and the Cochran amendment failed, because Bush would veto the entire bill. There is no way he is going to sign a bill actually allowing importation of drugs, and the Democrats don't have the votes to override. Here is Kennedy's statement on the bill:
http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48722614_ted_kennedy_senator_ted_kennedy_cloture_vote_fda_reavitalization_bill

[DrDan]

39. these bastards are sooooo greedy

[Orsino]

45. It's the money, stupid.

As soon as dollars were mistaken for speech, this sort of abuse became inevitable. You want people represented instead of money, then ban the money.