Posted on 07/17/2008 8:09:44 AM PDT by rellimpank
American consumers have come to expect warning labels on products that might pose a risk. But Congress is considering allowing the mass (re)importation of drugs that originated outside the safety and security of the U.S. chain of custody, without so much as requiring a warning label. This is a very risky business.
If Congress is going to adopt such legislation, Americans deserve to be put on notice. That's why all (re)imported drugs should be required to carry a warning label:
"WARNING: THIS DRUG LEFT THE U.S. CHAIN OF CUSTODY AND THEREFORE ITS SAFETY CANNOT BE GUARANTEED
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Those Canasdians are dropping like flies due to tampered prescriptions. The drug companies just want to keep American citizens on the price gouge plantation.
I think the warning should be on all goods such as food or drugs. No matter what the % of content came from foreign sources.
After so many people died from taking that heart drug, you would think our government would do more to protect us, but they don’t care about any of us. As long as they can make more money from the drug companies for looking the other way, they will and that means more Americans are going to die. A 9% rating for Congress is too high!
If reimportation is permitted, the current inconsistencies in price that make reimportation an attractive prospect will vanish overnight. The current pricing structure is an artifact of the barriers to trade. So I suspect that reimportation will not be much of a big deal. It is simply not cost effective to ship drugs out of the country and then back into the country.
The people who will be screwed by this legislation are the folks overseas who currently benefit from below-market-rate drugs. These deals will evaporate immediately.
Canada cannot survive reimportation by Americans.
The only reason drug companies sell cheaper there is the mass buying power of socialized medicine. If the main profitable market for their drugs (the U.S.) begins reimporting from Canada, Phamaceutical companies cannot stand the profit hit. They will have to charge Canadians more.
That would be great. Reimportation kills the Canadian socialist system. Let ‘er rip!
Why don't you post your socialist rants on DU? Drugs are cheaper in Canada and Europe, because socialist governments threaten to take away the patents of US drug companies if they don't sell to their health care systems at ridculously low prices that don't cover the costs of developing new drugs. It costs about $800 million to bring a new drug on the market. The only way new drugs get on the market is if the drug companies and their investors that finance them can make a profit. European and Candadian price controls mean the US market has to pay most of the development cost.
Maybe you would prefer the good old days when the only heart drug was digitalis. My father would probably have died over a decade ago were it not for drugs like Lipitor and Plavix. They may be expensive, but they beat the alternative.
Ever notice how few drugs are coming from European drug companies these days? What's the point of doing all the research if they can't make a decent profit? You can't make a profit in the socialist health care systems in Europe that will only pay for the production costs.
I suggest that if you don't want to pay the cost of new and very effective new drugs, you only use drugs for which the patents have expired and which are available as generics.
I suggest that if you don’t want to pay the cost of new and very effective new drugs, you only use drugs for which the patents have expired and which are available as generics.
Drug companies play games with the patents as well. How much of your income do you make from the pharm business? It seems rather socialist to use government as a means of eliminating competition. Or is competition only good for some businesses?
If a significant part of the US pharmacutical sales are through Canada, the US drug companies may decide that it is more profitable overall to cut sales to Canada, thus putting at risk Canada’s access to drugs at cheap prices.
Given the way some countries want to play hardball with the drug companies, I wouldn’t blame them. No one benefits long term to appeasing bullies. The pharms shouldn’t do it and neither should the American consumers.
I agree that the Canadian system cannot survive mass reimportation. However, the Canadian remedy will be to ban the practice. They will stop allowing their pharmacies to ship drugs out of the country.
Legislation in this country to require or encourage reimportation is misguided. You can buy drugs from Canadian pharmacies now. If new legislation is passed, the ability to reimport may be stopped entirely by the Canadian governemnt.
I think that the US should bring a free trade case about government purchasing of drugs. Developed countries are threatening theft of intellectural property if drug companies do not capitulate. These developed countries should pay market rates for their drugs.
My only holding in pharmaceuticals might be in my IRA an medical IRA funds. If I benefit from the pharmaceutical industry, it is overwhelmingly as a consumer or as a relative of other consumers.
Patent protection has been around since the adoption of the US Constitution if not before. Patents are time limited monopolies that benefit both society and the developers of new products. Inventors get protection from competitors for 20 years (used to be 17) while they are required to fully disclose their inventions so they can be used by others after the patents expire. Capitalism can only exist where legal systems recognize and protect property rights. Without the limited monopolies granted to patent holders lots of imitators could make copies of new products without benefitting the persons and companies that develop those products.
I fully support patent rights. I believe legal means should be used when these rogue nations make threats. Our government should insist that patents be honored as a prerequisite to allowing importation of any item from these countries. We have a situation now where the government is allowing illegals in in order to depress the wage scale of lower middle class workers. At the same time, these same people are expected to subsidize the world’s drugs. While many are happly to accept socialized medical aid, many others have convictions against accepting stolen funds.
I got off the phone with a pharmacist about an hour ago after getting prices on some drugs for my husband (long story). On two of the meds, he told me they made minor changes to the drugs so they could obtain new patents. One was Ambien CR and one was Nexium. They are both available in generic form much more cheaply. So he basically said what you said. And he ought to know.
Carolyn
Great, more anit-American diatribe.
Those that think the socialist sytem is so much better, the doors are open to go north to Canada, or south to Cuba.
Don’t let it hit you in the @ss.
Well if you don't want to pay for the newer patent protected variants, buy the older drugs that are no longer protected and have generic equivalents available. If you're so upset about Nexium prices, why don't you go to the aisles in the pharmacy where they sell "over the counter" drugs. There you can find Prilosec OTC available without a prescription. It the same old 10 mg Prilosec that used to be a prescripion but its much cheaper.
I've tried Prilosec OTC, but it takes a couple of days to kick in unlike some of the newer drugs. Also I can't take the whole 14 day course of treatment, because I get some of the listed side effects especially stomach cramps. In fact every time I try to take it the side effects start sooner. I could go to my doctor to get AcipHex which is much superior to Prilosec OTC and starts working in 15 minutes, but its much more expensive. Instead I mostly use generic versions of Pepsid AC that work for just 12 hours rather than 24. It is much cheaper, and I use it when I have problems with an acid stomach or even take it 15-30 minutes before eating something like Mexican food or barbeque that might cause me some problems.
The newer drugs often have improvements that make them worth the price even if they require doctor visits too. They often work better and have fewer side effects.
Carolyn
So what? There's lots of alternatives including generic knockoffs of the original drugs for which the patents have lapsed.
Carolyn
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