Vitter Fights to Keep Prescription Drug Prices Affordable Through Reimportation

WASHINGTON, July 9 -- The office of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., issued the following news release:

U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) today sent a letter to the Food and Drug Association Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, with concerns about a new proposed regulation that gives the FDA authority to seize and destruct certain prescription drugs that patients purchased from outside the country. Vitter has long championed reimportation of more affordable prescription drugs that are approved.

"The FDA is proposing a completely arbitrary seizure and destruction of reimported prescription drugs," Vitter said. "This FDA rule has likely been influenced by Big Pharma, who have long opposed my efforts to provide much cheaper options for prescription drugs. Millions of low-income Americans have been forced to stop filling prescriptions due to high costs, but safely buying prescription drugs from approved vendors brings them some necessary relief."

Since his first election to the Senate, Vitter has authored and introduced legislation to allow for the reimportation of safe prescription medicine from other countries like Canada.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) signed on to Vitter's letter.

Many Louisianians are concerned about the FDA's new proposal and have voiced opinions to the FDA as part of the public comment period. Below are a few of the comments from Louisiana residents:

"Prescription prices are so inflated in the U.S. Please allow alternatives." - Wendy, Baton Rouge

"I cannot afford stateside drug costs." - Philippe, Houma

"I can't afford my prescribed medications at U.S. prices!" - John, Lafayette

"I have needed to use Canadian pharmacies myself when I had insurance with a $1000 deductible for prescriptions. I could buy the same meds there for z of the price and they worked very well! This is important to many, many Americans." - Kristin, New Orleans

"The costs of some of my meds is prohibitive, forcing me to have to forgo having them filled, thus doing with out necessary medications for my health and well-being." - Elizabeth, Metairie

"Cost is 60 per cent less than purchasing from local pharmacy, even with prescription drugs." - Halbert, Monroe

"We cannot afford some of the medications that my husband must take for his heart condition. He takes 25 total and only 3 are bought from Canada because of the U.S. prices are triple the cost." - Rita, Bossier City

Below is the text of Vitter's letter.

June 9, 2014

Dr. Margaret Hamburg

Office of the Commissioner

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

10903 New Hampshire Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20993

Dear Commissioner:

We are writing to express our serious concerns with draft FDA regulation, 21 CFR Part 1 (Docket No. FDA-2014-N-0504) and urge significant changes to the proposal, which allows for sweeping and arbitrary seizure and destruction of prescription drugs valued at $2,500 or less.

This proposed regulation constitutes a potential health threat to hundreds of thousands of Americans who receive their affordable drugs from safe, licensed and legal pharmacies in Canada.

Millions of low-income individuals and seniors living on a fixed income cannot afford the high cost of their prescription drugs as evidenced by a 2013 Commonwealth Fund study that indicated 50 million Americans did not fill a prescription due to high costs in 2012.

We request that the final regulation contain a requirement that patients be notified that their drugs could be destroyed at least six months in advance of their medication being denied to them. Additionally, in this day of limited federal resources we request that the regulations be phased in over two, five-year periods. In phase one, the FDA should focus limited resources on the destruction of narcotics and other controlled substances being imported into the U.S. The second phase then could allow for the full implementation of the regulation as prescribed by law. This would allow the FDA to continue to make closing dangerous rogue pharmacies a priority while allowing consumers who purchase affordable medications from Canada</location> time to identify alternative sources.

We must continue to address the needs of our most vulnerable population and we urge you to incorporate our recommendations into the proposed regulation. Thank you for your time and consideration in this most important matter.

Sincerely,

David Vitter Chuck Grassley

U.S. Senator U.S. Senator

Dean Heller Angus S. King, Jr.

U.S. Senator U.S. Senator

TNS30VitinMar-140710-4793082 30VitinMar