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Slowing Skyrocketing Drug Prices
Information provided by AARP - Published: 2011-03-29
Snowe-Stabenow legislation would allow for safe, legal importation of drugs from abroad.
AARP today announced its endorsement of the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act (S. 319), a bipartisan bill to allow for the safe and legal importation of lower cost prescription drugs from abroad.
The legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), would give consumers access to safe prescription drugs at lower prices.
In 2009, retail prices for commonly used brand name drugs climbed an average of 8.3 percent, far outpacing general inflation. Earlier today, AARP’s Public Policy Institute released new research that found even larger price spikes among popular brand name drugs as they neared the end of their patents, which protect them from competition against lower cost generic versions.
“Too many older Americans face the impossible decision of paying their skyrocketing pharmacy bills or buying other necessities,” said AARP Senior Vice President David Sloane. “Access to lower cost prescription drugs is a top priority for our members. Safe and legal importation is a needed step—with strong support on both sides of the aisle—to bring down the soaring costs of prescription drugs for every American.”
In a letter to Sens. Snowe and Stabenow, Sloane noted their bill’s critical safety mechanisms, including provisions to prevent counterfeiting and ensure legally imported drugs are properly inspected.
The bill would also empower states to prevent the drug industry from cutting off supplies of lower priced drugs from abroad. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that similar legislation introduced last Congress would save taxpayers $19.4 billion.
AARP’s latest Rx Price Watch Report, which highlights price increases among drugs losing their patent protection, is available at www.aarp.org/rxpricewatch
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- This web page is from the Disabled World Pharmaceutical section which provides: Effective drug regulation on the part of nations both promotes and protects the health of the public.
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