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Life
Extension Defeats The Behemoth
House Votes To Allow Importation
of Lower Priced Prescription Drugs
Dear Life Extension Supporters,
Two days ago, everyone we talked to on Capitol Hill said
there was NO chance the drug importation bill (H.R. 2427: The
Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003) would pass the House
of Representatives.
Today--July 25--right before the House vote, I was told
that there were so many drug lobbyists on Capitol Hill urging
Representatives to defeat this bill that the lobbyists were
standing in line to get into Congressional offices.
The pharmaceutical industry made it appear that everyone
was against the right of Americans to purchase lower cost
medications from other countries. The Wall Street Journal
wrote an editorial against it, the FDA said it would open the
floodgates to dangerous drugs, and even some religious groups
went into overdrive to oppose it.
The drug lobby even induced Reverend Jerry Falwell to
publish a vicious and slanderous attack against The Life
Extension Foundation for supporting this bill. (Look forward
to a fierce rebuttal to Jerry Falwell's baseless allegations
against LEF very soon at www.lef.org.)
Eight days after Falwell's editorial appeared in The
Washington Times newspaper, an FDA agent showed up at Life
Extension's facilities. A seven-day intrusive inspection
commenced that distracted our legal team from following the
bill. This is why you were sent, at the last minute, the
emergency email urging you to call, email or fax your
Congressional Representative to support the bill.
The incredible news is that The Pharmaceutical Market
Access Act of 2003 passed the House early this morning by a
margin of 243 to 186. We, the people, defeated the drug
industry's mammoth multi-million dollar attempt to keep this
consumer-based legislation from passing.
Life Extension believes the drug lobby induced the FDA to
initiate this inspection for the purpose of finding a way to
destroy our organization. The drug cartel views The Life
Extension Foundation as a threat to their profits and has
demonstrated--through Jerry Falwell--how far they will go to
discredit us.
Life Extension is preparing a detailed response to the
FDA's assertions that we may not be allowed to relate the
findings of peer-reviewed published studies (e.g., that folic
acid reduces homocysteine levels) to our members. The FDA
inspector even indicated that the agency might not allow our
medical doctors to discuss this type of information when
members call to ask questions about their blood test results.
Life Extension has retained First Amendment attorney Jonathon
Emord to initiate litigation against the FDA to protect our
right to communicate truthful and legitimate information, as
we have always done.
This bill now faces an uphill battle in the Senate, which
is more heavily influenced by massive pharmaceutical company
campaign contributions and lobbying. I am asking each of you
to log on to www.senate.gov to obtain the names and
addresses of your two Senators. Please handwrite, type or copy
to them a personalized letter along the following lines:
The Honorable Senator___________
Washington, D.C. 20510
The crisis of costly healthcare can be mitigated if
Americans are allowed to import lower-priced, identical FDA
approved drugs from other countries. On July 25, the House
passed the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003 (H.R.2427)
by a margin of 243 to 186. This bill has strict safety
standards in place that will ensure imported prescription
drugs as safe as those I buy from my local pharmacy.
This prescription drug importation bill will soon be
introduced in the Senate. I insist that you put your full
support behind it, despite the intensive and deceptive
lobbying efforts you will encounter.
This is my first letter to notify you how important this
issue is to me. I understand that the Senate may be voting on
this in September, and I will write you again to encourage you
to vote for the Senate version of this House bill that will
enable Americans to access lower-priced medications that have
similar safety standards of this country from other
countries.
Please let me know what your position on this drug import
bill is now, as I would welcome the opportunity to clarify why
it is so important that this bill pass the Senate as well.
Sincerely,
Name:
Address:
City: ST ZIP
Life Extension is risking its future by taking on the
behemoth drug cartel. Please take the time to write to your
two Senators now, and again in September. The upcoming October
issue of Life Extension magazine that you will receive in
September will contain an in-depth update as to the status of
this bill in the Senate.
I want to personally thank everyone who phoned, faxed
and/or emailed their Congressional Representative. Your
efforts have paid off big time. For those who did not contact
their Congressional representative, you now have the
opportunity to speak out for your rights by writing to your
two Senators.
You can follow the progress of this bill by logging on to
www.lef.org
regularly.
Together in Victory,
William Faloon
Life Extension Foundation Buyers Club
Following is the House action summary on this H.R.2427
H.R.2427
Title: To authorize the Secretary of
Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations for the
reimportation of prescription drugs, and for other
purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Gutknecht, Gil [MN-1]
(introduced 6/11/2003) Cosponsors: 53
Related Bills:
H.RES.335
Latest Major Action: 7/25/2003
Passed/agreed to in House. Status: On passage Passed by
recorded vote: 243 - 186 (Roll no. 445).
Jul 25, 7:58 AM EDT
House OKs Importation of Lower-Cost
Drugs
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House approved legislation early
Friday allowing Americans to purchase prescription medicine
abroad, voting 243-186 after a clash that pitted the hope of
lower prices against the fear of counterfeit drugs.
The vote marked a defeat for the pharmaceutical industry,
which spends millions lobbying Congress, and was repeatedly
criticized by lawmakers in both parties for putting profits
ahead of patients.
"It's not about safety, it's about money," said
conservative Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., practically hissing the
word. "There's a woman ... who's dying of breast cancer," he
added. "... How do you tell her when she goes to buy tamoxifen
that she can't afford it but she could go right across the
border to Canada and get it for one sixth or one seventh the
cost."
"The country is going to be flooded with unsafe
pharmaceutical counterfeits, over-age pharmaceuticals,
pharmaceuticals that don't preserve and protect the safety of
our citizens," countered Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan
Democrat who has long worked on drug issues.
The vote sent the bill to the Senate, and House supporters
hoped it would be incorporated, as well, in any final
compromise on Medicare prescription drug legislation.
But the chances of that appeared to dim even as the debate
unfolded on the House floor, when 53 senators announced their
opposition to any change in the current law, which allows the
Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide whether
importation would be safe.
Among those signing a letter on the issue were Sens. Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah, and Don Nickles, R-Okla., both of whom are part
of the group hoping to craft a final Medicare bill this
fall.
Congress has approved legislation twice before dealing with
the drug importation issue, but both times said the secretary
of the Department of Health and Human Services would first
have to certify that the drugs would be safe. Neither Donna
Shalala, who served under former President Clinton, nor Tommy
Thompson, who holds office under President Bush, was willing
to do so.
This time, the bill backed by Republican Reps. Gil
Gutknecht of Minnesota, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri and
Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, ordered HHS to set
up a system to allow importation of FDA-approved drugs from
FDA-approved facilities in Canada, the European Union and
seven other nations.
The measure also would require imported medicine to be
shipped in anti-tampering and anti-counterfeiting
packaging.
Even so, the Bush administration issued a statement calling
the bill "dangerous legislation."
And FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said the measure
"creates a wide channel for large volumes of unapproved drugs
and other products to enter the United States that are
potentially injurious to public health and pose a threat to
the security of our nation's drug supply."
The vote crossed the customary party and ideological lines
in the House. There were 155 Democrats, 87 Republicans and 1
independent in favor, and 45 Democrats and 141 Republicans
opposed.
The vote capped an emotional debate, supporters repeatedly
referring to cancer victims who must pay more for medicine at
home than they would in Canada or Germany, and opponents
warning of drugs that look legitimate, but are worthless, or
even hazardous.
Gutknecht held up two packages of the drug tamoxifen, used
to combat breast cancer. "Why is it that Americans have to
spend $260 for this life-saving drug when Germans can buy it
for $60," he said.
But Rep. W.J. Tauzin, R-La., countered by showing the
website of a Canadian prescription drug house. He said FDA
officials had purchased anti-seizure medication from the
company, but found it was made in India, not Canada. "It is
water inside this package," he said.
The measure had wide appeal to consumers - thousands of
whom have ridden in buses to Canada in recent years to buy
lower-cost drugs. And several lawmakers accused the drug
industry of merely trying to protect its own profits. Liberal
Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said it had spread "lies, lies,
and lies again" in an effort to kill the bill.
"We do believe there is a safety problem," said Mark
Grayson, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA. He also said the
legislation would import the system of price controls that
foreign government impose on drugs.
He said he didn't know how much the group was spending to
defeat the bill, adding, "We don't discuss that."
The pharmaceutical industry made more than $20 million in
political contributions in the past election, with roughly $8
of every $10 going to Republicans, according to an analysis by
the Center for Responsive Politics.
PhRMA itself gave more than $3 million and spent more than
$14 million lobbying Congress on various issues last year. In
addition, the organization gave millions last year to an
organization that aired television commercials on behalf of
candidates who backed a GOP-written prescription drug
bill.
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