FIGHT HIGH DRUG PRICES!
Drug Importation Bill Vote
Scheduled for July 24-25
Call or Email Your Congressional
Representative Now!
America is facing a nationwide economic healthcare crisis. One reason for this
is overpriced prescription drugs. These same drugs can be purchased in other
countries for far less money.
We are asking all Life Extension Foundation members to call, fax, or email your
Congressional Representatives, urging them to pass H. R. 2427: The
Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003. If this bill is passed
into law, the cost of prescription drugs will be drastically reduced due to
foreign competition.
The drug lobby has done everything in its power to defeat this bill. You will
read about the atrocities performed by the FDA and drug company to sabotage
this drug importation bill in an email we will send to you in a few days.
However, it is imperative that you reach out to your Congressional
Representative immediately. It is too late to write. Please phone, fax, or
email your Congressional Representative right away to express your support...
BEFORE the scheduled vote on The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003.
Corrupt bureaucracies will trample basic human rights as long as the citizenry
remains passive and apathetic. Please reach out to your Congressman right now!
To find your Congressional Representative, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at
1-202-225-3121. You can be connected to your Congressional
Representatives office directly and ask them to pass H.R. 2427: The
Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003 . You can also email or
fax your Congressional Representative by accessing www.house.gov
For your convenience, we have attached a sample letter that you can email or
fax:
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Date:
The Honorable ______________________
United States House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515
Dear Representative:
The high cost of prescription drugs is bankrupting the healthcare system of the
United States . The only way of resolving this problem is to allow free market
forces to compete for my business.
I ask that you support H.R. 2427: The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003.
This bill would allow drug wholesalers to purchase identical FDA-approved
prescription drugs from other countries.
I know pharmaceutical companies are lobbying against allowing consumers to
access lower cost medications from Canada and Europe, but I ask that you
consider the welfare of your constituents who can no longer afford to bear the
artificially inflated costs levied by the pharmaceutical companies. Please do
not believe the drug companies' and the FDA's propaganda that medications sold
in Canada and Europe are somehow "dangerous." This charade has been perpetrated
for the purpose of maintaining the quasi-monopoly that forces Americans to pay
the highest prices in the world for their prescription drugs.
For factual information relating to the prescription drug cost crisis this
nation faces, log on to the Website www.stopfda.org
Please vote "yes" for the The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003.
I request that you write me concerning your position on this vital issue.
Sincerely,
Name:
Address:
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SUMMARY: Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003
Americans deserve world class drugs at world market prices!
THE PROBLEM: Americans Cannot Afford Outrageous Prices for
Prescription Drugs
The Congressional Budget Office estimates prescription drugs will cost Medicare
beneficiaries $1.8 trillion over the next ten years. A $400 billion Medicare
band-aid on a $1.8 trillion problem cannot solve the problem.
Two years ago, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Medicine
Equity and Safety (MEDS) Act. It was the intent of Congress to allow Americans
to import wholesale quantities of lower-cost prescription drugs into the United
States . But the promise of this legislation has gone unfulfilled. Even though
the FDA largely wrote the bill, they have not implemented the law. What has
been the result? Americans continue to pay drug prices that are 30 to 300
percent more than in European and other industrialized nations. Even HHS
Secretaries Shalala and Thompson admit that Americans should not have to pay
higher prices so that the "starving Swiss" can pay less for the same
prescription drugs.
This price disparity is wrong. Despite a second vote in the House in favor of
opening pharmaceutical markets (Amendment #150 passed 324 to101 on 7/11/2001 as
part of H.R. 2330), prescriptions continue to go unfilled because prices are
too high in the United States . Worse yet, the FDA holds a legal dagger over
the heads of those Americans seeking better health who attempt to import
FDA-approved drugs. Fortunately, with the House drug coverage bill coming to
the floor soon, Congress has another opportunity to do the right thing and
codify America 's right to open pharmaceutical markets.
THE SOLUTION: Create a Competitive Market So That Americans Can
Afford Safe Prescription Drugs
Market Access: Under the Pharmaceutical
Market Access Act, the FDA must design and implement a system to grant
individuals, pharmacists and wholesalers in America access to FDA-approved
drugs from FDA-approved facilities in industrialized nations abroad.
Market Access: Those countries are limited to: the European
Union, Australia , Canada , Iceland , Israel , Japan , Lichtenstein , New
Zealand , Norway , Switzerland , and South Africa . Note: Mexico is NOT
included.
Safety: The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act strengthens
America 's commitment to maintaining the safest pharmaceutical drug market in
the world. This bill requires all prescription drugs produced at home and
abroad to use counterfeit-resistant packaging, similar to the technology used
by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. If the technology is good enough to
secure U.S. currency, it's good enough to secure our pharmaceutical
chain-of-custody.
Safety: The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act contains language
written by the legal team at FDA that requires wholesalers to test each
pharmaceutical shipment, unless the packaging uses counterfeit-resistant
technology. The FDA's strict language was written to provide for the safety of
imported pharmaceuticals from anywhere in the world.
Safety: The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act strictly prohibits
anyone from importing pharmaceutical narcotics, such as OxyContin.
Safety: The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act requires the FDA
to implement this program within 180 days of enactment. This frees Americans
from an environment where patients forgo pharmaceutical treatments, at risk to
their own health, because their prescriptions are too expensive.
STATUTE: The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act recognizes that
unaffordable prescription drugs do nothing to improve the health of American
consumers. That is an unsafe situation. The bill amends Section 804 of the
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 381) by striking language which
requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to certify that imported
drugs pose "no additional risk" to Americans under a market access regime. By
contrast, the Secretaries of HHS and USDA are not required to certify "no
additional risk" for fruits and meats-food borne pathogens claim thousands of
lives each year in the United States. HHS and the USDA have never suggested
banning the importation of food. The Pharmaceutical Market Access Act removes
this weak language from pharmaceutical legislation and relies on technology and
more aggressive safety testing to provide real protections for Americans.