Promises, promises

[bigtree]

. . . part of the 'fix it later' strategy


December 20, 2009

Administration: Obama to Push for Allowing Drug Re-Importation

White House aide David Axelrod said President Barack Obama was “committed” to allowing the re-importation of pharmaceutical drugs into the U.S. and would push ahead with efforts to open the market.

“Let me be clear: The president supports re-importation, as he said, safe re-importation of drugs into this country,” Axelrod told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “There’s no reason why Americans should pay a premium for the pharmaceuticals that other people in other countries pay less for.”

The pharmaceutical industry opposes re-importation, and the Food and Drug Administration has for years raised questions about the safety of re-importing pharmaceutical drugs into the U.S. Axelrod said the Obama administration would seek to allay such concerns.

Obama “put money in the budget” to improve the “safety and security procedures at the FDA so we can move forward on re-importation, and we will move forward on it,” Axelrod said.


http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/12/20/administration-obama-to-push-for-allowing-drug-re-importation/

[Deja Q]

1. The cost of the paperwork and the fact many drugs are made in China and other not-US countries,

why play with paperwork when the problem can be cut at the source? They are not made here so they are not "re-imported". They are simply being imported.

http://www.non-toxickids.net/2009/01/most-prescription-drugs-now-made-in.html

http://www.emaxhealth.com/94/20955.html

http://www.manufacturethis.org/?p=177

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2008/09/fda-issues-warn.html

.
.
.

[OHdem10]

2. The Double-Speak is the same in both Administration. They use

safety as an excuse to cover up their deal with Big Pharma.

The GOP used "Safety" exactly the same way in Bush Administration.
Their deal with Big Pharma included not permitting the Importation
of Drugs.

It is disconcerting to some of us to see them using Bush lines.

People go over the border and buy their meds from Canada. Some
at least for a while, ordered their Meds from Canada online.
We do not have people dropping dead.

[HughMoran]

5. So we can't even stop China from poisoning our kids, but millions of life-sustaining drugs

can be imported without a very strict set of regulations, controls and inspection?

[girl gone mad]

8. Just how stupid do you think we are?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-norman/india-wal-marts-drug-conn_b_108466.html">India: Wal-Mart's Drug Connection

Beginning January 1, 2006, the entire drug importation issue changed dramatically with the implementation of Medicare Part D by Congress. Talk of Canadian imports all but disappeared from the media. Within 9 months of the creation of Medicare's new drug program, Wal-Mart announced that it would begin selling in the Tampa, Florida trade area, a month's supply from a list of 150 generic drugs for $4 each. One industry analyst told the NewsHour that Wal-Mart's drugs "come from all over the world. They're U.S. manufacturers, Israeli and Indian manufacturers. They have a choice of where to buy these drugs. They are the lower cost drugs in the system today, and that's part of the reason why they're able to price them at this low price point." Wal-Mart was buying drugs directly from manufacturers.

Ironically, the same federal government that hassled senior citizens over importing small quantities of drugs from Canada, now seems content to allow Wal-Mart to import billions of dollars annually worth of Indian drugs to enhance the retailer's bottom line. The Indian drug companies have found a generic drug niche to fill, and they are using their poorly-paid workforce and less than stringent regulatory requirements to satisfy America's growing need for pills. Unlike clothing or toys---there is no label on the pill that says "made in India."

I'm just tripping over all the dead bodies of people who bought their drugs at WalMart.

http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/10005764/fda-dislikes-canadian-drugs-is-ok-with-chinese-drugs/">FDA Dislikes Canadian Drugs; Is OK With Chinese Drugs

The remarks are interesting given how few resources the FDA has devoted to ensuring the safety of legally imported drugs from China and other Eastern countries. BNET noted a few days ago that the FDA has only two staff members inspecting drug factories in China, and that European authorities make only 19 non U.S./European inspections per year. Yet Pfizer (PFE), AstraZeneca (AZN), Eli Lilly (LLY), Novartis (NVS) and many other drug companies are moving R&D and production facilities to China.

Drugs made in China are imported legally to the U.S. as if they were “American” drugs. The drug industry merely opposes allowing Americans to buy the same Chinese-made drugs from Canada, where price controls have rendered them cheaper.

Wait.. what was that? Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Novartis and many others http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/10005527/astrazeneca-to-move-drug-production-to-china-trend-begs-safety-questions-for-fda/">manufacture their drugs in China?
Looks like millions of drugs are already being imported without a very strict set of regulations, controls and inspection.

But, I guess it's okay as long as a big American corporation is profiting off of it. If we cut them out of the deal, then all of the sudden it's "Oh, nooooes!!11!! Scary drugs from China!!!11!!"

[girl gone mad]

10. Crickets.

[Bluebear]

11. good luck with those!

:)

[Bluebear]

3. "committed". . . ."fierce". . . ."robust". . . .

[HughMoran]

4. I heard that this morning

Sounds good to me.

[walldude]

6. “Let me be clear: The president supports re-importation

Just not today.... :rofl: :rofl: Gimme a fucking break. People all over the world take these drugs but they aren't safe enough for us?

[Nikki Stone1]

7. "Let me be clear"? Who the hell is stopping you?

I fucking hate that phrase.

[Tejas]

9. Weird, just

weird.

Why does Mr. Axelrod refer to the President as "Obama" instead of "Barack" or "President Obama"?

Obama “put money in the budget” to improve the “safety and security procedures at the FDA so we can move forward on re-importation, and we will move forward on it,” Axelrod said.