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U.S. NEWS Thursday 1 augusT 2019

PRESCRIPTION MEDS in a statement. "Drugs com- would lend its muscle to the
Continued from Front ing through Canada could effort, making it harder to
And there's no telling how have originated from any- overturn the policy in court.
Canada will react to be- where in the world." "The FDA has the resources
coming the drugstore for its Most patients take afford- to do this," said acting FDA
much bigger neighbor, with able generic drugs to man- Commissioner Ned Sharp-
potential consequences age conditions such as high less. "The agency is inter-
for policymakers and con- blood pressure or elevated ested in considering any
sumers there. cholesterol. But polls show reasonable proposal that
The U.S. drug industry is fac- concern about the prices maintains the bedrock of
ing a crescendo of con- of breakthrough medica- safety and efficacy for the
sumer complaints over tions for intractable illnesses American consumer."
prices, as well as legislation like cancer or hepatitis C Importation has backers
from both parties in Con- infection, whose annual across the political spec-
gress to rein in costs, not costs can run to $100,000 trum.
to mention proposals from or much more. And long- Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Io- In this Wednesday, July 10, 2019, file photo, President Donald
the Democratic presiden- available drugs like insulin wa, chairman of the panel Trump speaks about kidney health, accompanied by Health
tial contenders. Ahead of have seen serial price in- that oversees Medicare, is and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, left, in Washington.
the 2020 election, Trump is creases that forced some a longtime supporter. He Associated Press
feeling pressure to deliver people with diabetes to ra- and Democratic presiden-
on years of harsh rhetoric tion their own doses. tial candidate Sen. Amy portation. Sen. Lamar Alex- comed the plan but said
about pharmaceutical in- Azar, a former drug com- Klobuchar of Minnesota ander, R-Tenn., who chairs the key is whether importa-
dustry prices. pany executive, said U.S. have a bill to facilitate im- the health committee, wel- tion can be done safely.q
Making the announce- patients will be able to im-
ment, Health and Human port medications safely
Services Secretary Alex and effectively, with over-
Azar said the administra- sight from the Food and
tion recognizes that pre- Drug Administration. Azar
scription drug manufactur- used to be a skeptic of im-
ing and distribution is now portation, and was once
international. quoted dismissing it as a
"The landscape and the gimmick.
opportunities for safe link- One prong of the adminis-
age between drug supply tration's proposal would al-
chains has changed," Azar low states, wholesalers and
said. "That is part of why, pharmacists to get FDA
for the first time in HHS's his- approval to import certain
tory, we are open to im- medications that are also
portation. We want to see available here. Trump had
proposals from states, dis- recently endorsed a new
tributors, and pharmacies Florida law to allow impor-
that can help accomplish tation.
our shared goal of safe Another part of the plan
prescription drugs at lower would allow drugmakers to
prices." seek approval for re-impor-
Stephen Ubl, president of tation of their own drugs.
the industry group Phar- This second provision would
maceutical Research and cover cutting-edge biolog-
Manufacturers of America ic drugs as well mainstays
called the plan "far too like insulin, and it could
dangerous" for American apply to drugs from other
patients. "There is no way countries besides Canada.
to guarantee the safety of Azar said complex regula-
drugs that come into the tions setting up the system
country from outside the could take "weeks and
United States' gold-stan- months." He called on Con-
dard supply chain," Ubl said gress to pass legislation that