Friday, July 01, 2005
Canada to halt drug shipments / Frist calls for end to drug ads
[Beth Duff-Brown, "Canada: We're not the drugstore for the U.S.," The Chicago Sun-Times, 30 June 2005.
Kathy Kiely, "Senate leader seeks moratorium on ads for new prescription drugs," USA TODAY, 1 July 2005.]
Call it a win/lose for the pharmaceutical industry and (at least in the short term) a lose/lose for consumers.
First, Canada is moving to restrict sales of prescription drugs to the U.S. as a means to secure its own supply:
Canada's health minister threatened on Wednesday to overhaul the country's regulations on exporting prescription drugs, saying Canada would no longer be a cheap "drug store for the United States."
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said Canada would ban the bulk export of prescription drugs when their supplies were low at home. But he left vague how the ban would be put into place -- and whether it would affect the thousands of individual purchases that take place across the U.S.-Canada border and over the Internet.
The ban is an attempt to head off an anticipated onslaught of drug demands from Americans if legislation pending in Congress legalizes Internet and bulk import of prescription drugs from Canada.
"Canada cannot be a drugstore for the United States of America; 280 million people cannot expect us to supply drugs to them on a continuous, uncontrolled basis," Dosanjh said at a news conference.
Canadians must be assured access to an adequate supply of safe and affordable prescription drugs, Dosanjh said.
This was really only a matter of time. Dosanjh is absolutely right to inject some reality into the importation debate. So far, state officials Kansas and other I-Save RX states are admitting nothing about how this will affect their ill-conceived plans, but there's no way this won't have an impact.
Right on the heels of this announcement is Bill Frist's call for a moratorium on drug ads to consumers. What a victory for the free market that would be. Of course, the spin is that this is a big business vs. principles deal, but restricting freedom is hardly a virtue. Frist makes some ridiculous claims to back up his intrusion of liberty:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician, is calling on the pharmaceutical industry to curtail the multibillion-dollar advertising campaigns used to peddle prescription drugs directly to consumers. His move puts one of the most powerful lobbies in town on notice that the Senate's top Republican expects curbs on drug ads in print and television.
In a speech prepared for delivery today, the Tennessee senator blames drug ads for contributing to rising health care costs. He's seeking a two-year moratorium on advertising for new drugs and a government audit to determine how drug ads have affected the way Americans are treated for illness.
"Drug advertisements are fuel to America's skyrocketing prescription-drug costs," Frist says in remarks prepared for delivery in the Senate. "They create an artificial demand. And they drive up our nation's overall health care costs."
Advertising creates artificial demand?!? If that's the case, why not ban advertising in every other sector? That's a great plan for securing a sound economy, Senator.
[Matthew Hisrich, "Sebelius Is Practicing Black-Market Politics," The Wichita Eagle, 10 December 2004.]
[Beth Duff-Brown, "Canada: We're not the drugstore for the U.S.," The Chicago Sun-Times, 30 June 2005.
Kathy Kiely, "Senate leader seeks moratorium on ads for new prescription drugs," USA TODAY, 1 July 2005.]
Call it a win/lose for the pharmaceutical industry and (at least in the short term) a lose/lose for consumers.
First, Canada is moving to restrict sales of prescription drugs to the U.S. as a means to secure its own supply:
Canada's health minister threatened on Wednesday to overhaul the country's regulations on exporting prescription drugs, saying Canada would no longer be a cheap "drug store for the United States."
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said Canada would ban the bulk export of prescription drugs when their supplies were low at home. But he left vague how the ban would be put into place -- and whether it would affect the thousands of individual purchases that take place across the U.S.-Canada border and over the Internet.
The ban is an attempt to head off an anticipated onslaught of drug demands from Americans if legislation pending in Congress legalizes Internet and bulk import of prescription drugs from Canada.
"Canada cannot be a drugstore for the United States of America; 280 million people cannot expect us to supply drugs to them on a continuous, uncontrolled basis," Dosanjh said at a news conference.
Canadians must be assured access to an adequate supply of safe and affordable prescription drugs, Dosanjh said.
This was really only a matter of time. Dosanjh is absolutely right to inject some reality into the importation debate. So far, state officials Kansas and other I-Save RX states are admitting nothing about how this will affect their ill-conceived plans, but there's no way this won't have an impact.
Right on the heels of this announcement is Bill Frist's call for a moratorium on drug ads to consumers. What a victory for the free market that would be. Of course, the spin is that this is a big business vs. principles deal, but restricting freedom is hardly a virtue. Frist makes some ridiculous claims to back up his intrusion of liberty:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician, is calling on the pharmaceutical industry to curtail the multibillion-dollar advertising campaigns used to peddle prescription drugs directly to consumers. His move puts one of the most powerful lobbies in town on notice that the Senate's top Republican expects curbs on drug ads in print and television.
In a speech prepared for delivery today, the Tennessee senator blames drug ads for contributing to rising health care costs. He's seeking a two-year moratorium on advertising for new drugs and a government audit to determine how drug ads have affected the way Americans are treated for illness.
"Drug advertisements are fuel to America's skyrocketing prescription-drug costs," Frist says in remarks prepared for delivery in the Senate. "They create an artificial demand. And they drive up our nation's overall health care costs."
Advertising creates artificial demand?!? If that's the case, why not ban advertising in every other sector? That's a great plan for securing a sound economy, Senator.
[Matthew Hisrich, "Sebelius Is Practicing Black-Market Politics," The Wichita Eagle, 10 December 2004.]
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