Anna Eshoo: “I rise in support of the Kingston Amendment which would strike language from the bill to implement a fundamental change…”

“I rise in support of the Kingston Amendment which would strike language from the bill to implement a fundamental change to the FDA's drug safety laws by allowing the commercial re-importation of prescription drugs. The bill is a vast expansion of current policy. Besides allowing individuals to bring drugs across the border for their personal use, the bill would allow pharmacists and wholesalers to re-import prescription drugs for sale in the U.S. Let me address the myth that allowing prescription drug reimportation will dramatically reduce drug costs for Americans. This has never been proven and according to a 2004 report by the Department of Health and Human Services, estimated savings to individuals would be less than 1 percent. I'm concerned about taking serious risks to patient health for little or no gain. It's important to remember why prescription drug re-importation was banned in the first place. Nearly 20 years ago, Congressman John Dingell introduced and passed the Prescription Drug Marketing Act. He did so on the heels of a multi-year investigation by the Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee. The Subcommittee's investigation uncovered a string of abuses that were harming patients, including widespread importation of counterfeit drugs, drugs that had been tampered with and drugs that were incorrectly dosed or wrongly labeled.”