Comments on: Pharma Deal With White House Delays Health Reform

By: nancy

nancy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:15:17 +0000

Medication I get now comes from other country all ready. I remember
getting my medication for $2.00, after years, Went up to $3.00,
Then $5.00, 10.00, And the mail order was supposed to be cheaper
but started out $5.oo for 3months, Then 10.00, then they wanted
you to buy gernetic medication, If you didn’t you had pay the
differnce. The cheaper beginnig was pharmist at farmer Jacks,
Then went to Medco, now went CVs pharmacy, now $50.00 for
medication, Now going back to Medco. BuT I like going to
the Pharmacy than mail order. The reason medication keeps
going up to help others, and alot of my medications comes
from all over depends who has it.

We need go back making medication in United States not other
country, has hurt united states, and the american tax payers,
and in the end it has hurt the everyday person .

By: cliffintokyo

cliffintokyo — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:56:16 +0000

PV
I did not write that I do not care about patients; and the problem is counterfeits not reimports.
It is really up to pharma, not FDA, to quickly introduce labeling that allows us to easily spot the fakes and get them off the market promptly. Why did lipitor manufacturers make their packaging so easy to copy?
Anon has repeatedly pointed out (tnx) that the problem of adulterated products (actually another issue) will not go away just by banning reimports because more than 80% of active ingredients are manufactured outside the US. Perhaps finished product manufacturers in the US just might need to do more? FDA will probably insist they do anyway once reimports become legal.

By: Anonymous_

Anonymous_ — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:16:43 +0000

Pharmavet you act like the FDA is the issue here??.. It is pharma that created this condition between outsourcing and offshoring … giving countries with loose regulatory and even sketchier skills a role in the supply chain- teaching them what is it in it and what it looks like.. How long did you think that it would be before they learned to do it without you and pocket the money? Places where toothpaste and dog food are routinely adulterated?? .. Not to mention creating such insane margins between pricing in the US and Canada that it is incentive for counterfeiters.

There would be no imported Lipitor if Pfizer was just manufacturing in Groton.. Oh wait, Lipitor is in Ireland.. and they closed that down to move to Asia anyway.

Approving critical new important medicines should take longer considering the changes that pharma has made in R&D and manufacturing. The FDA is all the American public has and that is not saying much.

The current state of affairs has little to do with the truly dedicated employees and amazing scientists at pharmaceutical companies who have truly been shafted these last few years, especially in the U.S.

It has everything to do with the C-suite and above that has put their own salary/bonus interests, Wall Street expectations and short term profitability ahead of safety of the consumers of their products, job security for their employees and longterm profitability and viability of their industry. They did us all a disservice.

By: pharmavet

pharmavet — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:43:52 +0000

Cliff, it is so thoughtful of you not to care about counterfeit imports. Tell that to the patients who may have suffered a serious adverse event from not receiving their genuine Lipitor. Maybe they don’t take such things as seiously in Tokyo, but they darn sure as well do in the United States. The reality is that the FDA customs division is a weak link in the supply chain. Why should they have to devote scarce resources to “muscle up” when banning reimportation will allow them to devote those resources elsewhere, like approving critical new important medicines more rapidly.

By: Anonymous_

Anonymous_ — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:38:09 +0000

Pharmaclarifier.. the example you cite is an example that could happen with reimportation… but it did happen without it..Why? BECAUSE LIPITOR ISN’T MADE IN THE US SO IT IS IMPORTED IN ANYWAY….

Heparin was adulterated and killed individuals and not because it was reimportated but because it had a global supply chain just the same as Lipitor…it probably happens now and you know it still cost more than in Canada. So we pay more for what?

If Pharma wants to stand up and say it isn’t safe and the US pays a premium for safety, then make that be the case. Go back to buying API in the US and manufacturing for the US only in the US. Unless you are willing as an industry to do that then it is pure hyperbole to pretend that the higher prices support safety for the US or to save R&D that is moving to Asia at amazing speed.

If you want to charge the US a premium, advertise unchecked and market with regulations more lax than any other country under the name of “free speech” then maybe in return the US consumer could get a little more for their money than the one in Canada and that would be a closed manufacturing and supply chain.

By: cliffintokyo

cliffintokyo — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:08:47 +0000

PC: Thanks for the inside story
“Similar problems on a massive scale” is really
rather *hyperbolic* though.
So what FDA is really worried about is the disproportionate amount of resources needed to unravel the few cases of counterfeits that might emerge (despite the tough new labeling recommendations that will make fakes easy to spot).
We are really most interested in seeing the copy products quickly off the market; we don’t actually care about all the follow-up work that FDA has to do up to the successful prosecution of the trangressors.
So let’s accelerate the introduction of the new labeling and make sure FDA has enough resources and muscle; happy?
It is not really helping FDA to pretend that pharma is working hand-in-hand with them; that is just what the public is afraid of.

By: Pharma Clarifier

Pharma Clarifier — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:30:27 +0000

As a pharmaceutical executive I was involved in the investigation of counterfeit Lipitor that was imported through a very elaborate supply chain set-up several years ago. It took the intensive cooperation of industry, FDA and customs, and countless man-hours of time to solve the mystery. This is a legitimate reason for FDA being fearful of reimportation, not the hogwash on this board about FDA “protecting” Pharma. I firmly believe that if we legalize reimportation we will be inviting similar problems on a massive scale.

By: patrons99

patrons99 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:47:10 +0000

OMG! I never thought I’d hear a former pharma say “Just say no to drugs!” When did you find religion? You are starting to sound a bit like a naturopath. In all seriousness, I’d love to see a health care system that promoted wellness, probably through some combination of allopathy and homeopathy. Some drugs are life-saving. Many others, however, are a complete waste of health care resources, e.g., uppers, downers, sleep-aids, sex-toys, me-too drugs. Quite a few marketed drugs are of very dubious safety. Some marketed drugs are actually dangerous, and should never have been approved in the first place.

By: Former Pharma Marketing Director

Former Pharma Marketing Director — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:53:08 +0000

Cliffintokyo,

You are probably right, it is “political blustering”.

Pharma doe snot want to have to negotiate with governments about the price of their drugs.

Lowering drug prices in the US will significantly help other Countries to lower their prices.

We really need to start educating people to stop taking drugs that are not absolutely necessary and those who are on drugs, must find a way off - it is completely ravishing our health and health care plans…

JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!!!!!

By: cliffintokyo

cliffintokyo — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:23:30 +0000

What is missing from the above discussion are the financial numbers.
If, as people say here, the gov only intends to allow in some generic products from Canada, this will not hurt US pharma industry.
If this is correct, the objections by big pharma are purely political blustering and should be treated as such and ignored.
If there is a quality problem (unlikely in my view), FDA can say ‘we told you so’.