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The political climate has changed in Washington in favor of both reimportation of prescription drugs and negotiated prices for drug purchases under Medicare, a powerful U.S. senator told FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan during a bruising Senate appearance last week.
Congress will pass legislation this year that allows for the reimportation of prescription drugs and negotiated prices for drug purchases under Medicare, Senate Commerce Committee John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan during a bruising Senate appearance yesterday.
Even though FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan acquiesced yesterday to demands that he appear before the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss drug reimportation, there is no guarantee the hold placed on his nomination to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be lifted, a Senate source said.
One Democratic senator is vowing to delay the confirmation of FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan as head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, even though the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination yesterday and sent it to the Senate floor for confirmation.
As momentum builds toward pushing reimportation legislation through Congress this year, pharmaceutical industry representatives are actively trying to refocus the debate about drug pricing.
FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan was peppered with questions about reimportation of Rx drugs and congressional oversight during what might have been a tougher-than-expected confirmation hearing yesterday.
State prescription drug monitoring programs can help prevent diversion of pharmaceuticals for illegal uses, but they may also reduce the number of prescriptions written for targeted drugs, according to a new report from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO).
Allowing HHS to negotiate directly with manufacturers on Medicare prices for single-source drugs would not lower prices significantly in most cases, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has told a sponsor of legislation that would give HHS that authority.
Several House members, angry that a previous request for information on Medicare cost estimates has not been answered, last week fired off another letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and invoked the little-known “Seven-Member Rule,” demanding the secretary supply them with the information by March 15.
Some 48 members of Congress have sent FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan a letter urging him to approve OTC status for the emergency contraceptive Plan B before leaving his current post to take the reins at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.