Posted At KansasCity.com

By: Tony Pugh

WASHINGTON , A bill to legalize prescription drug imports from Canada and elsewhere would make the practice safer for U.S. consumers, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner testified Tuesday.

The endorsement by David Kessler, who led the FDA under President George Bush - the current president's father - and President Bill Clinton contrasted with stark warnings from other witnesses who appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions.

They said the proposed measure would bring more counterfeit drugs into the United States and would slow U.S. drug companies' research and development by cutting into their revenue.

Under the bill, individuals could buy and import drugs from Canadian pharmacies registered with the FDA, starting 90 days after passage of the legislation. One year after enactment, the legislation would permit commercial imports from licensed pharmacies and wholesalers in Canada, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The number of licensed importers would be limited for the first two years.

The bill would authorize imports only of FDA-approved drugs manufactured in FDA-approved facilities.

The measure is sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, and Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican.

The bill, and similar legislation by Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, is intended to address concern over U.S. drug prices, the highest in the world.

The FDA does not seek prosecution of U.S. residents who fill personal prescriptions at Canadian drugstores in person or through mail order and the Internet. But the agency and the drug industry oppose widespread commercial importation, saying that foreign drugs might be unsafe, counterfeit or improperly labeled, stored and shipped

Kessler, dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, said the bill would make importing drugs safer for consumers, who now do it with almost no government oversight.

Several witnesses cited other concerns. Thomas Arthur, dean of the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, said that allowing drug imports would be tantamount to importing foreign price controls. Graham Satchwell, who leads a London firm that helps drug companies implement anti-counterfeiting measures, said the United States would be a prime target for counterfeiters.