Prescription Drugs
Fact Sheets
Chronology
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
New Medicare Rules May Increase Risk from Unregulated Compounded Drug Copies
Rep. Waxman asks HHS to revise the proposed Medicare rule that would allow the use of pharmacist-made copies of brand-name prescription drugs to ensure that seniors are not exposed to the serious health risks posed by these non-FDA approved drugs.
- Letter to HHS
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Medicare Drug Card Website Rife with Errors
Reps. Waxman and Slaughter reveal that the pharmacy information on the Medicare.gov web contains multiple errors, incorrectly identifying the Medicare drug cards that can be used at many pharmacies.
- Letter to HHS
- Photos of Closed Pharmacies
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Prescription Drug Cards Still Provide Few Discounts to Seniors
An analysis released by Rep. Waxman finds that the Administration’s claims that competition would reduce drug prices under the new Medicare discount cards have yet to materialize.
- The Report
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Medicare Drug Cards Provide Little or No Savings for Seniors
An analysis prepared at the request of Rep. Waxman finds that prices under the new prescription drug cards are far higher than prices in Canada and those negotiated by the federal government, and are no lower than prices currently available to Medicare beneficiaries.
- The Report
- Fact Sheet on CMS Response
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Ending Price Discrimination vs. Republican Medicare Proposal
Eliminating international drug price discrimination would provide most seniors with a greater reduction in drug costs than the Republican Medicare proposal -- and at no cost to the taxpayer.
- The Fact Sheet
Monday, September 08, 2003
GAO Study Shows Prescription Drug Cards Fail to Provide Meaningful Savings to Seniors
Reps. Waxman, Stark, Brown and Ross release a GAO study showing prescription drug discount cards produce only minimal savings at best.
- GAO Report
- Press Release
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
HHS Asked for List of Unapproved Prescription Drugs; FDS Urged to Regulate Cystic Fibrosis Medications
In a follow-up letter, Rep. Waxman asks HHS Secretary Thompson for a complete list of marketed prescription drugs that do not have FDA approval as well as those that in the past lacked FDA approval and were subsequently either approved or taken off the market. Rep. Waxman also urges Secretary Thompson to instruct the FDA to require approval of the pancreatic enzyme drugs used by patients with cystic fibrosis.
- Letter to Secretary Thompson
- March 25 Letter to Secretary Thompson
Friday, April 19, 2002
FDA Reverses Decision on Pediatric Rule
The FDA announced a reversal of its decision to suspend the pediatric rule, but stated that the rule "needs to be updated."
- HHS Press Release 
Thursday, March 07, 2002
FDA To Suspend Child Safety Rule
Rep. Waxman, Rep. Sherrod Brown and Rep. John Dingell wrote President Bush to urge him to intervene to stop the FDA from suspending the 'pediatric rule' that protects children from unsafe and improperly dosed medications.
- Letter to the President
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Combatting Antibiotic Resistance
Reps. Waxman, Sherrod Brown and Louise Slaughter announced a survey of poultry producers on their use of antibiotics and introduced legislation to reduce the use of antibiotics by these producers.
- Bill Text: H.R. 3804
- Rep. Waxman's Statement
Thursday, January 03, 2002
New Data on Administration Prescription Drug Card Plan
Reps. Waxman, Dingell, Rangel, Stark, Brown, and Ross wrote to HHS Secretary Thompson describing new GAO data that indicates that the drug cards proposed by the Bush Administration are unlikely to provide significant benefits for seniors.
- GAO Data
- Letter to HHS
Monday, August 06, 2001
Inclusion of Women in New Drug Testing
At the request of Rep. Waxman and Senators Tom Harkin, Jim Jeffords, Barbara Mikulski, and Olympia Snowe, the General Accounting Office (GAO) investigated FDA’s progress in addressing the inclusion of women in clinical drug trials. While the report indicates that FDA has made some progress in ensuring the participation of women in trials, it identifies significant shortcomings in the inclusion of women in new drug development. GAO concluded that it was not confident that either the pharmaceutical companies or the FDA reviewers took full advantage of the available information to learn more about the effects of the drugs on women and to explore potential sex differences. In addition, GAO found that FDA does not currently have appropriate management systems in place to monitor how many women are in clinical trials or to confirm that its medical officers have adequately addressed sex-related issues in their review.
- Letter to HHS
- Press Release
- The Report
Thursday, July 12, 2001
Prescription Drug Discount Cards
President Bush has proposed offering drug discount cards to senior citizens, which would allow them to purchase their medications at a reduced rate. However, a report by the Special Investigations Division has found that similar programs currently being offered by private companies provide little, if any, savings.
- Press Release
- The Report
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act
Reps. Waxman and Tom Allen, along with over 100 other members of Congress, introduced the Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act (H.R. 1400). This bill will protect seniors from price discrimination and allow Medicare beneficiaries to purchase drugs at substantially reduced prices. The legislation achieves these goals by allowing pharmacies that serve Medicare beneficiaries to purchase drugs at the low “average foreign price.”
- Bill Text: H.R. 1400
- Fact Sheet
- Response to Industry Claims about H.R. 1400
Friday, January 19, 2001
Safety of Drugs for Women
At the request of Rep. Waxman and Senators Tom Harkin, Barbara Mikulski, and Olympia Snowe, GAO reviewed drug products withdrawn from the U.S. market since January 1, 1997. This review revealed that eight of ten prescription drugs withdrawn posed greater risk for women than for men.
- GAO Report
- Press Release
Sunday, October 01, 2000
Breast Cancer Drugs Are More Expensive on Long Island than in Foreign Countries
This report for Rep. McCarthy is an example of the reports prepared by the Special Investigations Division that compare breast cancer drug prices in the United States with prices in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It found that breast cancer patients in Long Island pay much more for drugs than consumers in these four industrialized countries.
- The Report
- Reponse to Industry Claims About the Report
Thursday, August 17, 2000
Prescription Drug Coverage
A report for Rep. Waxman by the Special Investigations Division found that over one-third of California seniors lack prescription drug coverage. In addition, the report found that many seniors in the state skip or reduce dosages of medications because they cannot afford to follow their doctors’ prescriptions; that the number of uninsured seniors in California is increasing; and that even seniors in the state who have drug insurance encounter difficulty affording their medicine.
- The Report: Prescription Drug Coverage in California
- The Report: Prescription Drug Coverage in Florida
Monday, April 17, 2000
Medicare’s Failure to Cover Kidney Medication Costs Taxpayers Millions; Medicare Drug Cost Savings Act of 2001
At the request of Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey, the Special Investigations Division investigated Medicare’s coverage of prescription drugs for kidney dialysis patients. These reports found that the legislative prohibition preventing the Medicare program from covering inexpensive self-administered prescription drugs for dialysis patients may be costing the federal taxpayer well over $100 million each year. In response to these findings, Rep. Baldwin introduced the Medicare Drug Cost Savings Act of 2001 (H.R. 3317) to allow for Medicare coverage of self-administered drugs when they are cheaper than the physician-administered drugs currently covered by Medicare.
- Bill Text: H.R. 3317
- The Report
Monday, March 13, 2000
Pricing of Breast Cancer Drugs on Long Island: Breast Cancer Victims Face Discriminatory Prices
This report for Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island, New York, is an example of the reports prepared by the Special Investigations Division that compare breast cancer drug prices. It found that breast cancer patients are forced to pay twice as much for lifesaving medicines as drug companies’ favored U.S. customers, such as HMOs and the federal government.
- The Report
- Response to Industry Claims About the Report
Wednesday, February 16, 2000
Medicaid Drug Price Manipulation
At the request of Rep. Waxman, the HHS Inspector General and the Special Investigations Division investigated whether drug manufacturers are circumventing the law that requires them to provide drugs to the Medicaid program at the same low prices available to favored private sector purchasers. This investigation revealed that price manipulation by drug manufacturers cost the federal taxpayer over $100 million in 1998 and 1999. In February 2000, at Rep. Waxman’s request, the Inspector General of HHS and the Special Investigations Division completed an initial investigation of allegations that drug companies have circumvented the requirement that they provide the Medicaid program with rebates based on their “best” or lowest drug prices. The IG examined a small sample of drugs and found that drug companies avoided providing Medicaid with significant rebates by allowing certain favored customers to “repackage” the drugs before use. The IG found that when a drug company used this practice in the sale of just one drug, state and federal taxpayers lost over $24 million in one year. The Office of the Inspector General of HHS forwarded Rep. Waxman the results of an expanded investigation of drug company repackaging schemes. This investigation examined Medicaid drug rebates for the top 200 Medicaid reimbursed drugs for 1999. The IG found that some drug manufacturers excluded sales to repackagers from their best price determinations, including sales to three HMOs. According to the IG, the exclusion of these low-price sales to HMOs cost American taxpayers over $80 million in lost rebates in 1999. In total, the two reports reveal that the Medicaid rebate program lost more than $100 million in rebates in 1998 and 1999.
- Letter to HHS
- March 2001 IG Report
- Press Release
Saturday, December 18, 1999
FDA Approval of Rezulin
A new diabetes medication has been linked to at least 33 deaths since it was approved in 1996. According to the Los Angeles Times, the government's top diabetes researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was a paid consultant to Rezulin's manufacturer, Warner-Lambert, while he oversaw the selection and use of the drug in a major government diabetes prevention study. Rep. Waxman wrote NIH Director Dr. Harold Varmus to resolve questions about the safety of Rezulin and the potential conflicts of interest.
- Letter to NIH
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