Lawmakers Seek Answers About Seized Drug Shipments
Two members of the House on Wednesday sent a letter to FDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection "demand[ing] an explanation ... for increased government seizures" of prescription drugs ordered by U.S. residents from Canada, the Los Angeles Times reports (Girion/Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 2/16).
Canadian pharmacies say that the U.S. government recently has begun increasing seizures of prescription drugs ordered by U.S. residents. While ordering drugs from abroad is illegal, Customs and FDA officials generally have allowed the practice. Some Canadian pharmacies have seen four- to five-fold increases in the number of seizures recently, while an informal survey of 30 Canadian pharmacies showed that the increase in the number of seizures started in November 2005, doubled in December 2005 and doubled again in January.
Some Canadian pharmacy officials have said they believe the latest seizures are meant to coincide with the Jan. 1 launch of the Medicare prescription drug benefit (California Healthline, 2/13).
In their letter, Reps. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) and Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said, "We believe this unannounced policy of increased enforcement is irresponsible," adding, "There is a growing chorus of outraged Americans concerned that access to affordable prescription drugs is being denied to them." The letter said an increase in seizures goes against the wishes of Congress, which for three years has failed to appropriate funds to FDA to prevent the reimportation of prescription drugs for personal use.
Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, said, "The crackdown looks like it's more about the safety of the drug industry profits than it is about the safety of patients."
Christina Pearson, a spokesperson for HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, said there has been no effort to step up seizures of reimported drugs, adding, "If there are enforcement actions happening through Customs, those are unrelated to the implementation of the Medicare benefit. We have not coordinated between Medicare and Customs on this" (Los Angeles Times, 2/16).