Clinton backs Shalala as she blocks drug re-import bill; says he will offer

US President Bill Clinton has said that he intends to send suggestions toCongress, as soon as it returns, on improving the proposed prescription drug re-import legislation (Marketletters passim), after Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala refused to back its implementation.

In a letter sent to the President on December 26, Sec Shalala concluded that she could not "sanction the allocation of taxpayer dollars to implement such a system," on the grounds that the legislation has serious flaws and loopholes" which "make it impossible for me to demonstrate that it is safe and cost-effective." Sec Shalala, who had been directed by Congress to review the proposed law in order to determine whether it would be safe and cost-effective, told the President that she would not be requesting $23 million to cover the additional costs of establishing a system for oversight by the Food and rug Administration of prescription drugs re-imported from Canada.

Pres Clinton said he supported Sec Shalala's decision not to back the bill, noting that when he signed it on October 28 he had described it as"deeply flawed" and "little more than a false promise" (Marketletter October 30, 2000). The law which he signed "was so different from theone we proposed and is so full of loopholes that (Sec Shalala) could not say in good conscience that she believed that the prices for consumers would go down," he commented. What is needed is a law that protects safety and also lowers consumer prices, said the President, adding that as soon as Congress returned, he would be sending it "a statement of the things I believe would meet the standard of the law."