WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is not ready to release a highly anticipated report on the importation of prescription drugs that was due Wednesday, Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson said.
A Medicare law signed by President Bush (news
- web
sites) a year ago required the Department of Health and Human Services
(news
- web
sites) to study how American consumers could buy cheaper medicines
safely from Canada and some other countries.
Lawmakers from both political parties support importation, but the Bush
administration has argued the practice is risky.
Thompson told reporters on Wednesday he had not yet received the report
from a task force headed by Surgeon General Richard Carmona. Thompson said
he would be traveling until Tuesday and would not make the report public
until he had a chance to review it.
Seven lawmakers who support importation issued a statement saying they
wondered if the delay meant the administration was reevaluating its
previous opposition.
"Regardless of the commission's report, the American people are looking
to Congress to pass importation legislation," said the statement from
Minnesota Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht (news,
bio,
voting
record), Illinois Democrat Rep. Rahm Emanuel (news,
bio,
voting
record) and others.
Gutknecht and others said the health department's decision on Tuesday
to import flu vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc in Germany contradicted
arguments that buying medicines made in other countries was unsafe.
"I don't think you can draw that conclusion," Thompson said, noting the
FDA (news
- web
sites) inspected the German plant and determined the vaccine doses
made there were safe.
"It is completely different than having individuals just purchase drugs
from a foreign country that are not approved by the FDA," he said.
The American Medical Association earlier this week came out in support
of importation if certain conditions were met, such as limiting the
practice to wholesalers and pharmacies.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any
errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
Copyright ©
2004 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.