Americans are pushing for an importation bill that would allow them to import cheaper medications from neighboring countries like Canada. According to a Dow Jones International News article by John Godfrey;

U.S. lawmakers from across the political spectrum vowed
Wednesday to reverse a federal ban on the reimportation of prescription drugs
into the U.S.
Driving the debate is the fact that pharmaceuticals manufactured in U.S.
plants, or in U.S.-owned plants overseas, can be purchased for a fraction of the
cost outside the U.S.

Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, recently announced that they would not negotiate with wholesalers such as Cardinal Health Inc. to pay fees for
distributing medicines. According to Pfizer's filing with the SEC ``Wholesalers purchase and resell products for their own account and not as a service to Pfizer as a manufacturer"

This approach makes obvious business sense for a company such as Pfizer. Why would Pfizer want to pay fees to a wholesaler to distribute their product, which the wholesaler would mark up to make an even greater profit? It is a quick and easy way for wholesalers to increase their profits that ultimately ends up costing the consumer by raising the costs of medications.

Recently an FDA advisory panel voted 20 to 3 to not allow Merck to sell it’s cholesterol-lowering statin, named Mevacor, as an over-the counter medication. Although most doctors agree that millions of Americans could benefit from taking statins to help control their cholesterol, the panel found that was just not enough data to prove to them that the drug would be safe to start taking with first consulting a doctor. This leaves open the possibility of Merck conducting more clinical trials and providing the panel with more safety data.

The widely talked about medical malpractice bill thought to be introduced into Congress during President Bush’s second term has many media outlets buzzing about a possible cap for pharmaceutical companies liability due to negative side effects of their drugs. The speculation is that drug companies would be safe from punitive damage lawsuits for drugs that have been approved for sale by the FDA.

The world's four main pharmaceutical trade groups have announced that they will begin to publish more data about ongoing clinical trials. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, along with it’s counter parts in Europe, Japan and other developing countries will begin publishing the data sometime around summer 2005. Currently, American companies are required by law to publish information about clinical trials pertaining to life-threatening diseases. The move comes after the medical community has complained about pharmaceutical companies selectively publishing only those results that have positive results for their products.