Coalition Letter to President Trump and Members of Congress

OVER 100 ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS URGE WH AND CONGRESS NOT TO ENDANGER AMERICANS WITH IMPORTATION OF NON-FDA APPROVED DRUGS

The Partnerships for SafeMedicines

Dear President Donald J. Trump, members of the United States Senate, and members of the United States House of Representatives:

As organizations that represent thousands of law enforcement, healthcare professionals, patient advocates, taxpayer organizations, business groups, and consumer interest groups, we are writing to express our deep concerns with and opposition to proposals to import non-FDA-approved medications that would endanger the health and safety of our communities.

Importing non-FDA-approved medications outside the licensed and secure supply chain endangers patients

Historically, attempts to import drugs from “safe countries” like Canada result in Americans getting counterfeit, substandard or black market medication. These substandard products are often trans-shipped through Canadian free trade zones or shipped directly from countries like China or India, but they never enter the Canadian regulatory sphere.

There is no oversight, safety enforcement or United States FDA protection for medication obtained from
foreign entities unlicensed in the United States. Health Canada does not inspect, regulate, or supervise the medication from other countries that Canadian companies sell to Americans because they aren’t bringing those medicines into the Canadian drug supply.

Four previous United States Food and Drug Administration commissioners have studied this problem and concluded that the added costs of attempting to secure medicine from black market sources would eliminate any savings possible through such a program. They are clear that American patient safety would be compromised.