September 26, 2005 – The Heartland Institute
September 16, 2005 - WJLA.com
September 20, 2005 - Washington Business Journal
September 7, 2005 - Las Vegas SUN
September 12, 2005 - The North County Times: The Californian
Mediamatters.org - June 9, 2005
Washington Post - June 14, 2005
Pharmalive - June 15, 2005
The Hill - May 26, 2005
PRWeb - May 23, 2005
Mlive -May 7, 2005
Councilman David Catania:
"Big drug companies are pricing our residents out of the market for potentially lifesaving pharmaceuticals. As a result, this government has no choice buy to step in and address the predatory practices of the pharmaceutical industry."
Washington Business Journal -May 4, 2005
"The drug companies have built a wall around American consumers and forced us to pay higher prices than anywhere else in the world. It is this duplicity that has prompted CCS into action. We have established a truly global network of suppliers of both brand name and generic prescription drugs from countries with safety standards as high, even higher than in the U.S. This is a network of safe, reliable sources of drugs manufactured in FDA-inspected facilities in different countries, or safe, lower-cost generic alternatives."
PharmaLive -May 3, 2005
Dr. Peter Rost, Vice-President of sales for Pfizer Inc.
"Getting drugs to people who need them is about right and wrong...When millions of uninsured older of poor Americans get sick because they can't afford their medications, that is morally wrong. Most Americans pay prices similar to those in Europe, negotiated by insurers who buy in bulk. It's the uninsured who pay the full price, twice what you'd pay in Europe. Everybody negotiates bulk prices for bulk deliveries, everybody but the United States."
Think Progress -May 3, 2005
Dulcy Kushmore:
"To tell me that importing meds from Canada is dangerous, compare that to people not taking their meds, not being able to afford their meds, and they die."
Washington Bureau -May 1, 2005
David MacKay, Executive Director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association:
"Canada is an ideal exporter, not only because its regulatory system is trust, but because it is a single country with a tightly controlled wholesale network. Shutting down the only legitimate channel just helps the counterfeiters because they will fill the demand in the absence of licensed online pharmacies. We are taking a huge step backwards...Canada's mail-order pharmacy business has proven over four years that it does not adversely affect this country's drug supply or pricing."
IMG Media - February 1, 2005
Senator Byron Dorgan
"We are determined to pass drug importation legislation in the Senate this year in order to put downward pressure on prescription drug prices."
January 26, 2005 - Bloomberg News
Rep Gil Gutknecht (R-MN):
"As a nurse, I've heard people say 'I can't afford my drugs,' and I've spent hours and hours trying to figure out how to get them. It's a reality to me that people cannot afford their drugs."
January 26, 2005 - Associated Press
Senator Olympia Snowe:
"Drugs, if they're not affordable, can't be effective, and in my state just recently three individuals were hospitalized because they could not afford medication. So I think that the federal government needs to use every tool available to negotiate lower prices and to be in a position to leverage lower prices."
January 31, 2005 - Bangor Publishing Company
Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton (D-NY):
"Legislation for drug importation is inevitiable."
January 29, 2005 - Times Argus
Mary Jorgenson representative of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups:
"Unaffordable drugs are neither safe nor effective."
January 27, 2005 - Press-Gazette Washington Bureau
Robert M. Hayes (President of the Medicare Rights Center):
"Legislation that is supposed to increase older American's access to needed medicine now threatens to strip over six million men and women of their drug coverage. It is a moral imperative that the Administration and Congress act now to ensure that the neediest Americans not be the unintended casualties of the Medicare changes."
January 10, 2005 - Medical News Today
"Congress should act to correct widespread problems with the drug benefit. But this report focuses on what the Administration can do to improve a dangerous situation facing the poorest Americans under existing law."
January 10, 2005 - Medical News Today
David MacKay (Executive Director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association):
"After four years of business, not one person was harmed by mail-order medicines. Over 100,000 people die as a result of medical mistakes in the United States. Show me a dead American who died consuming the imported medicine."
Public Integrity - January 19, 2005
Gerry P. Little (Ocean County Freeholder):
"If our citizens, many of whom are on fixed incomes, can purchase these expensive drugs cheaper from Canada, we should not be standing in their way. Beyond that, that we have not, in this great and wealthy nation, been able to find a way to let our own citizens buy their drugs at prices comparable to what people pay all over the world for drugs produced here. It's a national environment."
January 10, 2005 - APP.com
Andy Troszok, President of Extended Care Pharmacy and the Canadian International Pharmacy Association:
"The Federal government has allowed this business to start and flourish for the last five years. There's been no issue of safety. We can only think of one thing. This is politically motivated. There has been a deal between our federal government and the U.S. federal government."
McClatchy Newspapers - January 3, 2005
Daren Jorgenson, Founder of Canadameds.com and Americaputmeoutofbusiness.com :
"While Mr. Dosanjh says it is unethical for doctors to write prescriptions for patients they don't see and for pharmacists to fill these, I would say it is more unethical to not permit patients to take their prescribed meds due to the fact that they can't afford them...Shame, shame, shame, on the Health Minister in Canada and the U.S. for trying to jeopardize the health of under privileged or under-insured U.S. citizens."
Press Release - January 10, 2005
Dave Robertson, President of Total Care Pharmacy:
"American citizens have been crossing the border to purchase lower cost medications for over a decade. My company has just allowed them to now purchase these medications from the comfort of their own home. Many of my customers are seniors, or people who are under-insured or have no health insurance at all. The fact that they purchase medications from my company allows them to do it from the safety of their own home, without having to travel miles across the border, which for seniors is a big issue."
Press Release - January 10, 2005
Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor-in-chief of the Journal of American Medical Association:
"This has been a tough year, largely of their (the drug companies) own making. Drug companies were not honest and forthright as we expect them to be."
Associated Press - January 4, 2004
Andrea McDonough, senior director of market events at NOP World Health:
"The pharmaceutical industry is facing a problem in trying to reach both physicians and patients with programs and messages that would deter importation. Patients are not buying the drug companies' position that importing drugs will hurt R&D efforts and doctors are not supporting the industry's warnings about the safety of imported medications."
PRNewswire - January 3, 2004
Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts
"We need an FDA that looks out for the health of patients and not just the health of the pharmaceutical industry. Lives are at stake, and the president should put an FDA leadership team in place right away, with no ties to the industry it regulates, and that's committed to reform."
Red Nova News - December 23, 2004
Secretary of State Matthew Brown
"This report is predictable coming from a Republican administration clearly more interested in protecting the profits of drug companies than in allowing Americans to buy safe, FDA-approved drugs from other countries, at a much lower cost. This is a report from the Bush administration, many of the people on the task force were appointed by that administration, which is not concerned with the American consumer. It's not right that people in this state are forced to choose between buying medicine and food."
December 23, 2004 - Pawtucket Times
Bill Bro, Chief executive officer of the Evanston-based Kidney Cancer Association
"Patients don't want imported medicines, we need affordable medicines. Let's throw out these unworkable, unsafe and unsustainable importation schemes and figure out a way to get more Americans access to the life-saving prescription drugs they need."
December 23, 2004 - Red Nova News
David Graham, FDA's office of drug safety:
"The FDA is more concerned with getting drugs onto the market than it is with getting safe drugs onto the market. And so rather than dealing with issues such as cardiovascular safety with Celebrex or Vioxx or Bextra before approval, the FDA is willing to allow the experiment to occur after approval."
December 22, 2004 - Red Nova News
Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis (Editor in Chief - Journal of the American Medical Association):
"This has been a tough year, largely of their (the drug companies) own making. Drug companies were not as honest and forthright as we expect them to be."
December 19, 2004 - The Boston Globe
The Olympian:
"Safety is the heart of President Bush's opposition to the re-importation of drugs. The president said there is no guarantee that Canadian drugs are safe. That's a bit hypocritical given the fact that, faced with a shortage of flu vaccine in the country; the administration has turned to Canada."
November 4, 2004 - The Olympian
Max Hermann Pharmaceuticals Analyst at ING:
"It's fairly obvious. If Bush gets in it will be fairly positive for them (the drug companies). If Kerry gets in, it will be fairly negative."
November 3, 2004 - This is London
Diane Marzynski: Letter to Editor
"Every day our politicians say it is illegal to import drugs from foreign countries. They need to get their facts straight.
I received a prescription from Jerusalem, Israel. How much more foreign can it get? I consulted with a pharmacist at our local pharmacy and was informed that the store does indeed receive prescription drugs from all over the world. So why are Canadian drugs illegal?
Perhaps it is time for our politicians to open their eyes and see what is actually happening in the prescription drug world. "
NWI Times.com - November 2, 2004
Brian Elliot: West Haven Councilman
"If buying drugs from Canada is safe, we should allow our residents to buy them from Canada. If buying in bulk will save on costs, then we should do that in Connecticut."
Amity Observer - October 21, 2004
Diana Duston (Washington-based analyst for Prudential Equity Group):
"It would be hard to imagine any president being more pharma-friendly than Bush."
Reuters - October 26, 2004
Senator Edward Kennedy:
"The Bush administration's drug discount card program has been a monumental failure. It's time to scrap and replace the administration's whole flawed Medicare bill with a program designed to meet the needs of seniors instead of designed to fatten the profits of drug companies and HMOs.."
Independent Media TV - October 11, 2004
Pfizer Executive Peter Rost:
"The objective does not appear to be to provide drugs, but to score political and public relations victories. We need comprehensive healthcare reform. Reimportation of drugs is a first step on the right way."
"I'm very concerned about the fact that Medicare will not be allowed to negotiate drug prices. I think this is Un-American. This is the country in which we believe we have a God given right to clip coupons and get low grocery prices, haggle with car dealers and buy clothes only on sale. To forbid us from negotiating drug prices will raise taxes which is even more Un-American. And this is done to us by a Republican president! I'm shocked."
Independent Media TV - October 11, 2004
New York Congressman Joseph Crowley:
"The Medicare reform bill has done zero to lower the cost of prescription drugs for American seniors and has in fact raised premiums and created a confusing system of Medicare drug discount cards. The bill was passed by the pharmaceutical industry."
Independent Media TV - October 11, 2004
Senator Paul Pinsky (D-D.C.):
"The pharmaceutical companies are making out like a bandit. I don't think it's right."
The Sentinel Newspapers - October 8, 2004
Bob Hayes President of the Medicare Rights Center:
"At this point, the battle is no longer over patient safety, it's totally about the political muscle of the pharmaceutical industry. It's a tragedy that both the White House and too many Republican governors are choosing the drug companies' interests over the public interest."
St. Petersburg Times - October 7, 2004
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich:
"Now, the nearly 13 million people who live in Illinois and the more than five million people who live in Wisconsin will have the opportunity to save hundreds, and in some cases even thousands of dollars each year on the high cost of their medicine."
Anthony Wright, Executive Director of Health Access:
"The Governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is clearly siding with his campaign contributors in the prescription drug industry over senior citizens and the poor who are finding it hard to afford prescription drugs."
San Diego Union-Tribune - October 1, 2004
Democratic Senator John Kerry:
"We can no longer afford a president who turns his back on the problem as drug prices go through the roof."
Bangor Daily News - October 1, 2004
AARP Michigan President Dr. George Rowan:
"Our members in Michigan and throughout the nation overwhelmingly support importation and passage of the Dorgan-Snowe bill as an important part of AARP's campaign to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs."
The Evening News September 28, 2004
Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark):
"Here we are in a global economy, and the United States allows these drug companies to take advantage and rob our own people. That can't continue."
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - September 24, 2004
Peter Rost Vice President of Marketing at Pfizer:
"It strikes me as immoral to limit trade to Canada under the guise that it is unsafe. The big safety issue is people not taking drugs, people having heart attacks because they can't afford to stay on cholesterol-lowering medication."
Boston Globe - September 23, 2004
"Holding up the vote on reimportation has a high, high cost, not just in American lives. Everyday we delay, Americans die."
The Miami Herald - September 24, 2004
Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) Majority leader of the California Assembly:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has raised more money from the drug companies than any politician in America except President George W. Bush. In his inaugural address, the governor said, "I enter this office beholden to no one except to you, my fellow citizens. I pledge my governorship to your interests, not to special interests." Well, now is the governor's chance to prove it. By signing this legislation, he can stand up to one of America's most powerful special interests, deliver huge savings in drug costs to California consumers and demonstrate to everyone in Sacramento that he can't be bought.
Los Angeles Daily News - September 21, 2004
AARP State Director Joan Carter:
"This bill represents another step in our efforts to rein in the high costs of prescription drugs. Our members need relief from these out-of-control drug prices, and allowing them to buy drugs from Canada or other countries could help lower prices."
U.S. Rep. John Larson:
"We've turned the elderly in our country into refugees from their own health care system so they have to travel to Canada in order to get the kind of prescription drugs that they need."
U.S. Rep Max Sandlin (D-Marshall Texas):
"The (Medicare) law is nothing but a sham that reflects the shenanigans of the drug."
Tyler Morning Telegraph September 2, 2004
Bob Hayes, President of the New York based Medicare Rights Center says:
"Consumers can safely purchase drugs from certified Canadian Internet pharmacies, there is no information to suggest otherwise."
News Observer September 3, 2004
Mike Hicks CEO of Canadameds.com:
"The horse is out of the barn. Americans know now that they can get safe and effective drugs elsewhere."
Newsday.com - September 20, 2004
Werner Kress (retires cabinet maker):
"It's our drugs. Put it that way, it's as safe as from the drugstore."
Newsday.com September 20, 2004
Democratic state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo:
"A big cash cow for the drug industry that does not absolutely nothing to lower drug prices for seniors."
Kentucky.com September 19, 2004
Indiana Democrat Party Chairman Kip Tew:
"The safety of reimported drugs was a phony issue."
The Indianapolis Star September 16, 2004
Councilman Howard Denis Montgomery County Council:
"We want to help sick people, that is what this is all about. If this is as dangerous and illegal as they (the FDA) says it is, why haven't they done anything about it?"
Associated Press September 19, 2004
When asked about former New York Mayor Rudolph Giulianni's preliminary report on the safety report on imported drugs, Michael Burgess director of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans said:
"They want to have a popular spokesman, but he’s in the business of taking money to serve his clients you have to look at who is paying him."
Washington Bureau August 19
Comment made by Dr. Marcia Angell, who was executive editor of The New England Journal of Medicine for 11 years. She's just published a book called "The Truth About the Drug Companies":
"There is no reason that buying drugs in Canada is any less safe than buying them in the United States."
CBS 11 News August 22, 2004
Comment made by Douglas Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights who organized the Rx Express train to Canada:
"Cheap drugs should not be just for Canadians."
Sacbee.com August 24, 2004
Comment made by Jerry Flanagan of the Santa Monica - based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights:
"Prescription drugs are bankrupting the entire health care system."
Oakland Tribune August 24, 2004
Quote taken from article: "A Canadian prescription for escalating drug prices" by guest columnist Shelby Gilje who orders prescription medications from Canada:
"I have found the Canadian pharmacies and their staffs to be as professional as their counterparts are here in the U.S. They regularly call to confirm faxed orders, tell me when a new generic option is available, and notify me when refills are about to expire. I've never received outdated medications from Canada. But I did receive some outdated drugs from an American mail-order pharmacy that once was part of my insurance coverage."
The Seattle Times August 24, 2004
William Hubbard, FDA Associate Commissioner:
“It's not safe, not legal and it's a bad thing to do. I know why the states are doing this. I understand their concern about high drug costs. But how many ways can I say it? Importing unregulated foreign drugs is not a good thing to do."
WCCO July 21, 2004– The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“The FDA cannot assure you that what you think is Lipitor from Canada is actually Lipitor, or if it's from Canada or Bangladesh or Timbuktu."
Bill Winsley, Executive Director of the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy:
“Combating pricing polices by opening up importation is an unsafe and poor resolution of the problem of rising costs of prescription drugs."
Dayton Daily News August 16, 2004
Court Rosen, Spokesman for the Washington, D.C. pharmaceutical trade group:
“Importation is a risky way for Americans to get their medicines. There are better solutions, including drug companies' patients assistance programs and the new Medicare prescription drug card benefit. We agree with the (U.S. Food & Drug Administration) that importation cannot be done safely."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel August 6, 2004
Jerry Moore, Executive Director of the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy:
Said that anyone who is promoting the sale of Canadian drugs in Alabama, or providing tools or information to do so, is "aiding and abetting" their importation, and thus violating a federal law.
Montgomery Advertiser August 13, 2004
Lester Crawford, FDA's acting commissioner:
Crawford suggested that tampering with prescription drugs imported from Canada could be a way for terrorists to launch an attack on Americans. Crawford said possible action by terrorists is the most serious of his concerns about the increasing efforts of states and cities to import drugs from Canada to save money.
Winnipeg Sun August 13, 2004
Bob Hayes, President of the New York based Medicare Rights Center says:
"Crawford suggested that tampering with prescription drugs imported from Canada could be a way for terrorists to launch an attack on Americans. Crawford said possible action by terrorists is the most serious of his concerns about the increasing efforts of states and cities to import drugs from Canada to save money.
Winnipeg Sun August 13, 2004