The Fearsome Foursome of Emanuel, Dorgan, Snowe, and Emerson want drug importation and are going to try to Rahm it through Congress. That’s politics. But they’re confused. They don’t seem to understand (or they choose not to admit) that you can’t cherry-pick drugs from just Canada or one or two of the 25 European Union nations. They may only want drugs from Canada, Great Britain or France, but that’s impossible — because that’s already the law – in Europe. And that's a fact.
In Europe, parallel trade (what we call “importationâ€) is legal between all 25 EU member states. And last year 140 million individual drug packages were parallel imported throughout the European Union — and a wholesaler repackaged each and every one. This means that, literally, parallel traders open 140 million packets of drugs, remove their contents and repackage them. But these parallel profiteers are in the moneymaking business, not the safety business. And mistakes happen. For example, new labels incorrectly state the dosage strength; the new label says the box contains tablets, but inside are capsules; the expiration date and batch numbers on the medicine boxes don’t match the actual batch and dates of expiration of the medicines inside; and patient information materials are often in the wrong language or are out of date. Oops.
This means that drugs purchased from a British pharmacy to an unknowing American consumer (or a blissfully ignorant member of the United States Congress) could come from European Union nations such as Greece, Latvia, Poland, Malta, Cyprus, or Estonia. In fact, parallel traded medicines account for about 20% (one in five) of all prescriptions filled by the same British pharmacies that have had a record number of counterfeit recalls in 2006. And Pharmaceutish Weekblad, a respected pharmacy journal in the Netherlands, recently reported that counterfeit medicines found in the Netherlands at the end of last year entered the legitimate supply chain through parallel importers. Stubborn facts.
In the EU there is no requirement to record the batch numbers of parallel imported medicines, so if a batch of medicines originally intended for sale in Greece is recalled, tracing where the entire batch has gone (for example, from Athens to London through Canada to Indianapolis) is impossible. And all the large "legitimate" Canadian internet pharmacies already admit to getting their supplies from Europe. (An interesting and important side note is that these EU-sourced drugs aren't even legal for sale in Canada. So those folks who say we'll be getting "the same drugs as Canadians" are just plain wrong.) Caveat Emptor is bad health care practice and even worse health care policy. Safety cannot be compromised, even if the truth is inconvenient.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 8-10% of the global medicine supply chain is counterfeit — rising to 25% or higher in some countries. The largest counterfeit market with close proximity to the EU free trade zone is Russia, where the generally accepted estimate is that 12% of drugs are counterfeit. Now that the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have joined the European Union, WHO has warned that an increase in the risks of counterfeits entering the EU supply chain is “obvious.†Facts are stubborn things.
According to Sue Mitchell, editor of the British journal Epilepsy Today, “The parallel trade in medication is damaging people’s health and, at worse, putting lives at risk. Strong words, but when the discussion of the parallel importing of medication seems to revolve primarily around money, the reality of patient experience goes unheard all too often.â€
Mr. Emanuel, Ms. Emerson, Senator Dorgan, Senator Snowe -- my 18-year old son has epilepsy. Please pay attention to the facts – and leave the fiction to John Grisham.
In Europe, parallel trade (what we call “importationâ€) is legal between all 25 EU member states. And last year 140 million individual drug packages were parallel imported throughout the European Union — and a wholesaler repackaged each and every one. This means that, literally, parallel traders open 140 million packets of drugs, remove their contents and repackage them. But these parallel profiteers are in the moneymaking business, not the safety business. And mistakes happen. For example, new labels incorrectly state the dosage strength; the new label says the box contains tablets, but inside are capsules; the expiration date and batch numbers on the medicine boxes don’t match the actual batch and dates of expiration of the medicines inside; and patient information materials are often in the wrong language or are out of date. Oops.
This means that drugs purchased from a British pharmacy to an unknowing American consumer (or a blissfully ignorant member of the United States Congress) could come from European Union nations such as Greece, Latvia, Poland, Malta, Cyprus, or Estonia. In fact, parallel traded medicines account for about 20% (one in five) of all prescriptions filled by the same British pharmacies that have had a record number of counterfeit recalls in 2006. And Pharmaceutish Weekblad, a respected pharmacy journal in the Netherlands, recently reported that counterfeit medicines found in the Netherlands at the end of last year entered the legitimate supply chain through parallel importers. Stubborn facts.
In the EU there is no requirement to record the batch numbers of parallel imported medicines, so if a batch of medicines originally intended for sale in Greece is recalled, tracing where the entire batch has gone (for example, from Athens to London through Canada to Indianapolis) is impossible. And all the large "legitimate" Canadian internet pharmacies already admit to getting their supplies from Europe. (An interesting and important side note is that these EU-sourced drugs aren't even legal for sale in Canada. So those folks who say we'll be getting "the same drugs as Canadians" are just plain wrong.) Caveat Emptor is bad health care practice and even worse health care policy. Safety cannot be compromised, even if the truth is inconvenient.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 8-10% of the global medicine supply chain is counterfeit — rising to 25% or higher in some countries. The largest counterfeit market with close proximity to the EU free trade zone is Russia, where the generally accepted estimate is that 12% of drugs are counterfeit. Now that the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have joined the European Union, WHO has warned that an increase in the risks of counterfeits entering the EU supply chain is “obvious.†Facts are stubborn things.
According to Sue Mitchell, editor of the British journal Epilepsy Today, “The parallel trade in medication is damaging people’s health and, at worse, putting lives at risk. Strong words, but when the discussion of the parallel importing of medication seems to revolve primarily around money, the reality of patient experience goes unheard all too often.â€
Mr. Emanuel, Ms. Emerson, Senator Dorgan, Senator Snowe -- my 18-year old son has epilepsy. Please pay attention to the facts – and leave the fiction to John Grisham.
