Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) today joined Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in cosponsoring legislation to increaseAmerican’saccess to affordable prescription drugs and ensure that those drugs are safe. Senators Dorgan and Snowe today introduced The PharmaceuticalMarketAccess and Drug Safety Act that is cosponsored by Senator Collins and a bipartisan group of 18 other Senators. The legislation allows US-licensed pharmacies and drug wholesalers to import FDA-approved medications from Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan and pass the savings to their American customers. The bill also allows individual consumers to purchase prescription drugs for their own use from FDA-inspected Canadian pharmacies.
“Our legislation would provide significant savings for Mainers and all Americans who struggle with the high cost of prescription drugs. Families and senior citizens should not have to choose between paying for groceries or paying for the medications that can help them fight disease and illness and live longer and healthier lives,” said Senator Collins. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates this legislation will result in $50 billion in savings over the next ten years.”
The prescription drug bill requires pharmacies and drug wholesalers to register with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and be subject to strict requirements to assure the safety of imported medications, including frequent, random inspections. The legislation allows only the importation of FDA-approved medicines with a documented “chain of custody” to ensure that drugs are handled only by authorized persons. In addition, it gives the FDA the resources and authority it needs to ensure the safety of imported drugs and stop illicit sales, whether it be the sale of unsafe products or drugs dispensed without a proper prescription.
Senator Collins has long been a supporter of allowing less expensive, safe prescription drug imports. She has helped to introduce past proposals in the Senate to give Americans access to these medicines, many of which are American-manufactured drugs that are available at Canadian pharmacies for a lower cost.
“It simply is not fair that American consumers are footing the bill for the remarkable, yet costly, advancements in pharmaceutical research and development, while our neighbors just across the border receive these medications at substantially lower prices,” said Senator Collins. “While we must continue to work on a broader scale to reduce the price of prescription drugs in the US, our legislation is a good, immediate, and safe remedy to the ‘price pains’ that patients are suffering.”