Pawlenty wows Senate panel with drug plan
Associated Press
Published November 21, 2003 PAWL21
WASHINGTON -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's plan to help residents buy lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada won kudos from a friendly U.S. Senate panel on Thursday.
``I want to tell you something,'' Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said to the Republican governor at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. ``I think you're terrific.''
``I hope my governor is listening,'' Boxer added, referring to new Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Pawlenty's plan calls for creating a Web site that lists Canadian pharmacies that meet Minnesota's standards for safety, and negotiating prices with the approved pharmacies. It also calls for offering incentives for state employees to buy such drugs, which are often far cheaper in Canada because of price controls.
The hearing came on the eve a historic vote on legislation that would provide a prescription drug benefit under Medicare.
``There are some of us who would love to come up there and help you,'' said the committee chairman, Arizona Republican John McCain.
The positive feedback, however, was more a reflection of the particular committee than the Senate overall. McCain is a sponsor of a bill allowing the importation of FDA-approved drugs from Canada, as are two other committee members.
Similar legislation, sponsored by Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., passed the House a few months ago as part of the Medicare prescription drug bill, but was dropped recently in House-Senate negotiations. A majority of senators are on record opposing importation, arguing it would subject Americans to unsafe medicine.
The Bush administration shares those concerns.
John M. Taylor, the FDA's associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, said bills allowing importation ``would create unprecedented prohibitions on FDA's ability to inspect and test drugs, and FDA's authority to block the distribution of drugs we think are unsafe.''
But Pawlenty argued his plan is safe because it would restrict drug purchases to established, reputable Canadian pharmacies.
To those who question the safety of importing drugs, Pawlenty said, he has a quick retort: ``Show me the dead Canadians.''
An opponent of drug importation, Sen. Rick Santorum, warned that importing drugs from Canada would deprive drug companies of the profits they need to come up with lifesaving medicines.
``You will kill many patients,'' said Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican.
Absent from Thursday's hearing was the trade group for the U.S. drug industry, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
McCain, a harsh critic of the group, said PhRMA had declined his invitation to speak at the hearing.
``What a surprise,'' he said sarcastically.
PhRMA spokesman Jeff Trewhitt shot back that McCain held the hearing as ``cover'' for his vote against the Medicare drug bill, and turned down expert witnesses suggested by the group.
``He did not want to have a substantive discussion, he just wanted to beat up on PhRMA,'' Trewhitt said.
After the hearing, Pawlenty, a Republican, said he would push forward with his plan whether Congress approved importation or not.
``It would be a lot easier if we could get broader federal authority instead of having to slip through a crack in the current law,'' he said. ``But if Congress won't act, we will.''
He said he has gotten ``mixed signals'' from FDA officials on whether will try to block the plan.
Taylor, the FDA associate commissioner, didn't address that directly in the hearing, except to joke that he wouldn't try to throw the governor in jail. |
