Import drug ban may ease

WASHINGTON — Americans could buy and carry home prescription drugs from Canada under an agreement reached Thursday between House and Senate Republicans.

Customs agents would be prohibited as part of a Homeland Security spending bill from seizing up to 90-day supplies of prescribed medicines brought across the border. Purchasing cheaper prescriptions over the Internet or by mail-order from Canadian pharmacies would still be prohibited, officials said.

Because of government price controls in Canada, prices there for many popular brand-name prescription drugs are 30 percent to 80 percent lower than in the United States, according to surveys by The Associated Press and others.

"This really breaks the dam, and it shows that it's only a matter of time before we pass a full-blown reimportation bill," Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said of the agreement, which came together on the same day that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced it plans to slash prices for generic prescriptions.

Vitter acknowledged that sales of drugs through mail order or over the Internet are more significant.

While importing drugs into the United States is illegal, the Food and Drug Administration generally has not stopped small amounts of medicine purchased for personal use.

However, Customs officials last November began intercepting prescription drugs coming across the border. Since then, Customs and Border Protection agents have seized more than 34,000 packages of drugs coming into the country.

A pre-election controversy over that enforcement policy threatened to split House GOP leaders who oppose lifting the import ban and rank-and-file Republican lawmakers who want to help elderly voters buy cheaper drugs.

Democrats who pushed for broader access to imported drugs accused Republicans of creating a smokescreen. "There's no progress here at all," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. "They're still standing up for the prescription drug industry at the expense of the consumer."

Opponents said importing drugs that do not have FDA approval could be unsafe for consumers. The FDA says it cannot guarantee the safety of imported drugs.

Representatives for the pharmaceutical industry said Canadian Internet pharmacies, for example, have been known to sell fake and potentially unsafe medicines to unknowing American consumers through other countries.

"Americans should look at much safer alternatives that already exist and are proving to be incredibly effective here at home," said Ken Johnson, senior vice president for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, brand-name drugs cost, on average, 35 to 55 percent less in other industrialized nations than they do in the United States. Supporters of importing drugs contend that the U.S. is subsidizing the cost of medicine for the rest of the world.