Congress rejects commercial reimportation

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to reject an attempt to change U.S. law to allow pharmacies, wholesalers and other re-sellers to reimport prescription drugs from countries where prices are controlled. The House voted 267-159 to defeat an amendment to the Agriculture appropriations bill that would have prevented FDA from enforcing restrictions against reimportation. Minutes later, the House voted 324-101 in favor of an amendment that allows individuals to import FDA-approved prescription drugs from the European Union and Canada for personal use. In order for the provision to become law, the Senate would have to enact a similar provision, and President Bush would have to sign the legislation.

In October 2000, the House voted 340-75 and the Senate voted 86-8 to enact the Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act (MEDS Act), which made reimportation contingent on a determination by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary that reimported drugs would be safe and would provide significant cost savings to American consumers. In December 2000, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala announced that it was not possible to certify that either condition would be met. The Bush administration announced in January that it would revisit the issue. ...