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States Try to Boost Flagging Rx Web Sites
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
 March 31, 20005 - States are finding that business
is slow on the Web sites they launched to make it easier for residents
to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and the United Kingdom.
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Fewer than 15,000 prescriptions have been filled
from outside the country through state-run Internet sites in the last
year. Minnesota's Web site,
RxConnect, has processed 10,000 prescriptions since it was launched
in January 2004, while
I-SaveRx has processed 4,800 prescriptions since Illinois created
the site in October 2004. Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas and just this year
Vermont have since joined I-SaveRx. Compare those tallies to the 22
million prescriptions that the uninsured have ordered online and that
were filled in the United States through an industry-based Web site
called
HelpingPatients.org.
The Bush administration deems imported drugs
illegal and possibly unsafe. States don't agree and complain that the
White House's meddling and the powerful pharmaceutical industry's
lobbying efforts are to blame for residents' confusion about state-run
drug importation sites, noting that:
-
The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration has nabbed at least 50 shipments of medications
from the United Kingdom ordered through state-run programs since
January, stirring not only bad publicity but also doubts among
people thinking about using the sites.
-
The powerful
pharmaceutical industry lobbies hard at the state and federal level
against importing drugs from Canada and offers various competing Web
sites for the uninsured or underinsured to get medications.
-
Canada, which states
fear is under pressure from the Bush administration, has hinted it
may turn off the spigot of cheaper prescription drugs that flow to
the United States.
The Bush administration points to the paltry
participation with state-run programs as evidence that most Americans
don't trust getting their medications from abroad.
"I'd like to think that Americans are looking at
the situation and saying, `OK, the drugs are cheaper, but I want someone
to tell me that they've been checked out,'" William Hubbard, associate
commissioner for policy and planning for the
FDA, told Stateline.org. "If this was buying a watch or a handbag
and you got a bad one, then you lose a few bucks ... but drugs are a
whole different ballgame," Hubbard said.
In spite of -- or maybe because of -- these
hurdles, states are trying new strategies to boost interest in their Web
sites. In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) announced that state-run
MinnesotaRxConnect plans to offer drugs from British firms in addition
to four mail-order pharmacies from Canada.
"It's become clear that the Canadian government
might slam the door on American consumers seeking more affordable
prescription medicines from safe Canadian pharmacies," Pawlenty said in
a
prepared statement.
Pawlenty and five other governors still are waiting
for a response after writing Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in
January, hoping to stave off a possible crackdown from the north. The
other governors signing the letter were Kathleen Sebelius (D) of Kansas,
John Baldacci (D) of Maine, John Hoeven (R) of North Dakota, Jon
Huntsman (R) of Utah and Jim Doyle (D) of Wisconsin.
In Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) kicked off a
new advertising campaign earlier this month to encourage more people to
use the Web site his state created called I-SaveRx, relying on local
unions and free advertising from Clear Channel Communications to get the
word out. Blagojevich recently lashed out against what he sees as FDA
interference.
"Unless the FDA has concrete evidence that the
medications our citizens are receiving through I-SaveRx are not the same
as the medicine that they buy here in the U.S., then they should stop
standing in the way of our efforts to help people," Blagojevich said in
a statement following a press conference earlier this month.
The FDA denies that it is targeting medications
that are purchased from another country via state-run Web sites that
tell Americans how to buy cheaper medications. "There is no particular
targeting," FDA's Hubbard said. Detaining 50 shipments out of the
estimated 12 million medications that enter the United States from
Canada "is inconsequential in terms of numbers and clearly shows that
there's not any large campaign against these drugs," he said.
The FDA hasn't filed a lawsuit against any state
for running a Web site that makes it easier for Americans to purchase
medications from Canada, but Hubbard said that option "is on the table."
Many state leaders, however, contend the
administration's safety concerns are groundless and blame the industry
and federal officials for meddling.
Minnesota's Pawlenty recently told a U.S. Senate
hearing that the No. 1 complaint patients have had was not?safety or
quality of imported drugs but the federal government's interference.
"Join us or get out of the way," he told the panel.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), who in 1999
drove busload of seniors to Canada to help them purchase medicine, calls
the safety concerns about Canadian drugs unfounded. "We allow free trade
across the border for cattle, hogs and logs -- but not prescription
drugs," he said during a recent Democratic radio address.
While states and the Bush administration are at
loggerheads over whether it should be legal for Americans to import
prescriptions from Canada, nearly everyone agrees on one thing: Neither
the states nor the White House is expected to back down.
"States are going to continue do this [offer Web sites] because it's
very popular in these states; governors are able to say, `Look, we can
get you cheaper drugs, and by the way, I'm poking the bad ol' feds in
the eye at the same time.' That's a pretty good message in the middle of
the country," said Hubbard of the FDA.
Sharon Anglin Treat, executive director of the
nonpartisan
National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices in
Maine, said states will continue to look for cheaper medication because
the costs "are a huge budget-buster."
"This is an area where states have to look for
savings," she said. "I don't see states abating their interest in
importation."
At least 18 states have legislation pending
regarding drug importation, according to the
Health Policy Tracking Service. Already this year one state has
acted: Vermont's Legislature voted to allow the state to join I-SaveRx.
Similar measures are pending in Minnesota and Connecticut. Moving in the
opposite direction, a Kansas legislator has introduced a bill to remove
Kansas from the I-SaveRx program.
This article was published at
www.Stateline.org on March 24, 2005
Send your comments on this story to
letters@stateline.org. Selected reader feedback will be posted in
the Letters to the editor section.
Contact Pamela M. Prah at
pprah@stateline.org
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