Senate Commerce Committee votes for drug importation

The Senate Commerce Committee voted 14 to 8 to attach drug importation legislation to an unrelated bill. Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), with support from John McCain (R-Ariz.), added the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act (S. 334) to legislation reauthorizing the Federal Trade Commission. S. 334 seeks to allow individuals, wholesalers and pharmacies to import drugs from Canada and industrialized countries and to prevent pharmaceutical companies from limiting sales to countries that export drugs to the U.S. The amendment was passed over the strenuous objections of committee Chair Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who plans to put a hold on the bill, preventing a vote on the Senate floor, in an attempt to have S. 334 removed. ...