Lots of talk about the FDA's transparency initiative. That's good.
Lots of gossip about the FDA supporting a codicil in pending tobacco legislation that would legalize drug importation. That's bad.
And remember, there's no such thing as drug "reimportation." That's putting lipstick on a pig. This isn't about making available to Americans the "same" drugs being sold to our neighbors to the north. This is about drugs from a multitude of nations (most notably those of the European Union). That means a drug that is said to come "from Great Britain" could just as easily originate from places such as Greece, Portugal, Latvia, or Malta. And basic economics dictates that goods from lower cost markets flow into higher cost ones. (In fact, more than 20% of all prescription medicines sold in the UK are "parallel imported" from lower cost nations within the EU.) These drugs, arbitraged through Canadian internet pharmacies and then resold to Americans may be dubbed "reimported" but that's just plain misleading -- because these off-the-back-of-the-truck medicines are not even legal for sale in Canada. So much for "the same drugs" as you can buy at a pharmacy in Toronto.
How can an FDA that wants to more robustly promote drug safety (and appropriately so) also support the importation of foreign drugs into the United States? It's bad enough when some of our elected officials choose to put rhetoric and politics in front of the public health -- it's something else entirely when such an attitude is adopted by the agency responsible for pharmacovigilance.
The career staff at FDA has consistently been against drug importation, so wither the switcheroo? Politics has no place in FDA decision making. And the last time I looked, the same career staff are in place. Draw your own conclusions.
In the spirit of transparency: what is the FDA's position on drug importation?
Lots of gossip about the FDA supporting a codicil in pending tobacco legislation that would legalize drug importation. That's bad.
And remember, there's no such thing as drug "reimportation." That's putting lipstick on a pig. This isn't about making available to Americans the "same" drugs being sold to our neighbors to the north. This is about drugs from a multitude of nations (most notably those of the European Union). That means a drug that is said to come "from Great Britain" could just as easily originate from places such as Greece, Portugal, Latvia, or Malta. And basic economics dictates that goods from lower cost markets flow into higher cost ones. (In fact, more than 20% of all prescription medicines sold in the UK are "parallel imported" from lower cost nations within the EU.) These drugs, arbitraged through Canadian internet pharmacies and then resold to Americans may be dubbed "reimported" but that's just plain misleading -- because these off-the-back-of-the-truck medicines are not even legal for sale in Canada. So much for "the same drugs" as you can buy at a pharmacy in Toronto.
How can an FDA that wants to more robustly promote drug safety (and appropriately so) also support the importation of foreign drugs into the United States? It's bad enough when some of our elected officials choose to put rhetoric and politics in front of the public health -- it's something else entirely when such an attitude is adopted by the agency responsible for pharmacovigilance.
The career staff at FDA has consistently been against drug importation, so wither the switcheroo? Politics has no place in FDA decision making. And the last time I looked, the same career staff are in place. Draw your own conclusions.
In the spirit of transparency: what is the FDA's position on drug importation?
