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| Tackling the Prescription Drug Crisis |
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Lowering the cost of prescription drugs is a high priority for the Douglas administration. Last December, the State of Vermont petitioned the FDA (Click here for FDA Petition) to approve a pilot program of importation and State of Vermont officials continue to advocate for a change in the position taken by the federal government. On December 19, 2003, we were advised that the FDA was in receipt of our petition (Click here for FDA Correspondence).
Governor Jim Douglas went to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 (Click here for Press Release) to testify before the Federal Task Force on Drug Reimportation to urge the federal government to “allow states to pursue all safe means of lowering the cost of prescription drugs.” On June 8, 2004, we received a notice from the FDA indicating they had been “unable to reach a decision on our petition (Click here for FDA Correspondence) because it raised significant issues requiring extensive review and analysis by agency officials.” On August 9, 2004 when Secretary of Administration, Michael K. Smith, received notice from William K. Hubbard, Associate Commissioner of Policy and Planning, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, that Vermont’s Citizens Petition had been denied (Click here for Denial Notice).
Governor Douglas responded swiftly to the FDA’s disappointing position and on August 10, 2004, in conjunction with Attorney General William Sorrell, announced that Vermont would file suit against the Food and Drug Administration in U.S. District Court over the issue of importing drugs from Canada (Click here for Press Release) (Click here for Secretary Smith's Response to the FDA Denial).
On August 20, 2004 Vermont filed the Nation’s first suit in U.S. District Court against the FDA. (Click here for Press Release) (Click here for Complaint)
In light of these most recent developments Governor Douglas has directed key members of his administration to consider developing a reimportation program that conforms to our interpretation of the current laws, independent of the FDA.
As previously mentioned the cost of prescription drugs is a high priority of this administration. In addition to our latest efforts to bring short-term relief to Vermont citizens, through Governor Douglas’s leadership, we
- Successfully developed the nation’s first Medicaid Multi-state Purchasing Pool (Click here for Press Release),
- Worked at the national level to encourage pharmaceutical reform enabling generic drugs to be brought to market in a more timely fashion (Click here for Press Release), and
- Through Public Service Announcements, encouraged all Vermont citizens to purchase generic prescription drugs whenever possible.
To help interested Vermonters learn more about this topic, we are making the following information available to you on this site. One source is an information paper that was provided to the Department of Human Resources Benefits Division by the Segal Company, an expert consultant with whom the State contracts for advice on managing and administering our employee health plans. That “White Paper” (Click here for White Paper) provides a broad discussion of the drug importation issue. The same consultant has also recently provided us a memorandum that summarizes the activities of state governments across the country in the area of facilitating importation of drugs from Canada (Click here for Memorandum).
Vermont has recently joined I-Save RX, a prescription drug program which enables Vermont residents to access selected brand drugs from pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland at prices which may be lower than currently available in the United States. To learn more about how this program works, and how your family could benefit from your participation, visit the I-Save RX web site at http://www.ovha.state.vt.us/i-saverx.cfm.
updated 4/25/05
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