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Pfizer, Minnesota governor support drug imports
Republican governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, and Pfizer drug company executive Peter Host urge Congress to allow drug importation to Americans from other countries.By FREDERIC J. FROMMER
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 -- Going against their party and industry, a Republican governor and a drug company executive urged Congress on Wednesday to allow Americans to import prescription drugs from other countries.
U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona testifies on Capitol Hill Feb. 16 before the Senate Health Committee hearing on drug importation. (AP Photo/Hans Ericsson)"Every day Americans die because they can't afford lifesaving drugs, because we want to protect the profits of foreign corporations," Pfizer executive Peter Rost told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Rost, Pfizer's vice president of marketing for endocrine care, made a public splash last year with his counter-industry views, followed by what he said was a company investigation that has since ended.
"The industry is making a historic mistake in opposing importation," Rost said.
His comments drew an incredulous response from Sen. Ted Kennedy, the ranking Democrat on the committee.
"Dr. Rost, do you still work for Pfizer?" asked Kennedy, D-Mass., to laughter.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty testified on behalf of his state program that helps residents purchase Canadian drugs, which has led to legal threats from the Food and Drug Administration. Pawlenty invoked the Beatles in urging Congress to legalize importation.
"If Congress can't or won't, please follow the advice of Paul McCartney, who sang, 'Let It Be,'" Pawlenty said.
Drugs purchased from Canada and other countries are often far cheaper than they are in the United States, but the Bush administration opposes the practice, contending it is unsafe.
Last December, an administration task force concluded that regulating the purchase of prescription drugs from abroad would wipe away most savings and diminish investment in new drugs.
Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who chaired that task force, conceded that the Canadian system's standards were similar to those of the United States.
"But we found hundreds of Web sites purporting to be Canadian pharmacies, when really they were offshore gimmicks that were perpetrated on the public," Carmona told the committee. "In fact we saw some with (phony) FDA seals of approval on them, which we had no knowledge of."
Kennedy, who has sponsored legislation to allow for imports of drugs, said the experience of Minnesota and other state and local governments showed that it could be done safely.
Legislation to legalize drug importation passed the House last year, but Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a surgeon, refused to allow a vote in the Senate.
Story Produced by: Doug Bell
