Did White House Pressure FDA To Help Kill Measure To Make Drugs Cheaper?
After the Food and Drug Administration fired off a letter that helped kill a measure fiercely opposed by the drug industry, one Democratic senator is accusing the Obama White House of using the FDA — which is supposed to offer apolitical opinions — as a bludgeon. The drug importation amendment to the health reform bill, which would have saved the government and consumers billions of dollars by allowing prescription purchases from Canada and elsewhere, was killed in the Senate late Tuesday with an assist from the FDA letter. The 51-48 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed. The letter from FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg that raised the specter of “significant safety concerns” not fully addressed in the amendment was seized on by opponents of the measure. “This is a matter of life or death,” pleaded Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). (We’ve posted the letter here.) Long opposed by industry — but championed by President Obama during the 2008 campaign — drug importation is an idea that t
