Senate Preserves Oligopoly for Drug Companies

American business loves to talk about competition in the free market. However, when it comes to having to compete, a great many companies run to Congress for protection from the marketplace. Thus, the drug companies had their gang in the US Senate shoot down a legal provision that would allow US citizens to buy prescription drugs outside the US and import them. This is socialism for the rich, and it’s plain un-American.

According to the Associated Press, “On a 49-40 vote, the Senate required the administration to certify the safety and effectiveness of imported drugs before they can be imported, a requirement that officials have said they cannot meet.” This effectively gutted an earlier amendment that would allow the importation of prescription drugs manufactured in Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan and New Zealand.

Claiming that they are concerned about the safety of the drugs (not pharmaceuticals – the companies involved peddle drugs that have social approval), some senators voted against importation. Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, said, “Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, secretaries of Health and Human Services have declined to certify that foreign drugs — like those allowed under the Dorgan Foreign Drug Act — are safe for American consumers. They realized, as I do, that close enough isn’t good enough.” Mr. Enzi last faced the voters in 2002, and the pharmaceutical industry donated over $27,000 to his campaign according to the Federal Election Commission.

If these drugs aren’t safe, of course, there should be a pile of dead Canadian, Australian, European, Japanese and New Zealanders. There should be lawsuits and parliamentary inquisitions. There aren’t any. The pills one buys in Canada or any of these other nations are identical to those purchased in the US. How does one know? Because most drug manufacturers make many of their drugs outside the US and import them to America. A simple review of any of their annual reports demonstrates this.

Of course, the American voters and consumers of prescription drugs are getting taken here. Most popular prescription drugs cost much less in other developed countries than in the US. The profitability of the US market effectively subsidies prescription drug purchasers outside the US. Foreign aid is all well and good, and indeed, this journal supports the principal heartily. However, if the idea is to make drugs cheaper for non-Americans, the policy ought to be couched in such terms.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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