This is the latest dispatch from Washington: The Senate could vote later today to allow consumers to legally import meds from overseas after lawmakers voted to end debate on the measure.

While the 63-to-28 vote was procedural, and not a vote on the proposal itself, it makes it more likely that lawmakers will vote later on the plan by Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota.

The debate is part of the broader haggling over PDUFA, and Dorgan has offered the drug-importation plan as an amendment to the FDA bill. Earlier this week, the White House threatened to veto the bill if it contained provisions allowing drug imports.

However, before any vote on the Dorgan amendment, lawmakers need to vote on a second-degree amendment by Sen. Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican. His measure would effectively negate the amendment by requiring the HHS to certify that importation would “pose no additional risk to the public health.” The department has twice said it can’t certify the safety of drugs coming from overseas.

The existing PDUFA law Sept. 30, and the bill lawmakers are debating would extend the program through 2012. The measure, sponsed by Ted Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, and Wyoming’s Mike Enzi, a Republican, contains several provisions aimed at boosting drug safety, including a plan requiring the FDA to review new drugs twice in the first three years they are on the market.

Source: Dow Jones[tags]Counterfeit, Reimportation[/tags]