Perspectives: FDA Roadblocks For States’ Drug Importation Plans Make Them Unlikely To Succeed

Stat: FDA Calls States' Bluffs On Drug Importation
For decades, critics of the U.S. drug pricing system have advocated importing drugs from Canada as a convenient shortcut to lower prices. The Food and Drug Administration’s recent release of a proposed regulation to create a process for approving state-sponsored importation plans is one step closer to that goal. A closer look shows that it’s actually a false step. Career FDA staff, supported by previous FDA commissioners and Health and Human Services secretaries, have long maintained that there is no way to open a drug import channel into the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain without violating the 2003 law authorizing Canadian drug imports that required the FDA to certify that importation would create no safety risk to the public. (Ian D. Spatz, 2/18)

Bloomberg: In Fighting Outbreaks, Big Pharma Struggles To Get Out Front
Sanofi joined the race to combat the coronavirus as the outbreak kindles fears of a pandemic. The question is whether its effort will prove more effective than some of Big Pharma’s past attempts to tackle dangerous new pathogens. The French drugmaker said Tuesday it will team up with a U.S. agency to develop a vaccine against the virus that has killed more than 1,800 people. Sanofi is betting its earlier work to develop a SARS vaccine will speed the effort. (James Paton and Marthe Fourcade, 2/18)

Stat: Coronavirus Outbreak Exposes A Weak Link In The U.S. Drug Supply
In the 21st century, Americans have found it far too easy to be complacent about public health emergencies like the ongoing coronavirus outbreak of the newly named Covid-19 that began in China and has since spread to other countries, including the U.S. To be fair, it has been more than 50 years since the last federal quarantine was issued, to control a deadly smallpox outbreak. A half-century gap is bound to instill a false sense of security, even when taking more recent threats into consideration. (Sen. Marsha Blackburn, 2/14)

Journal Times Editorial: Congress Must Act Now On Prescription Drug Prices
"I am calling for bipartisan legislation that achieves the goal of dramatically lowering prescription drug prices. Get a bill to my desk, and I will sign it into law without delay.” President Trump’s call in his State of the Union address got the attention of many Americans dealing with escalating insulin costs and other prescription drug prices. They need help. (2/18)