
The commercials ask voters to urge their senators to oppose dangerous drug importation legislation. The newspaper ad reads, Keep the nations prescription drug supply safe. Urge the Senate to reject drug importation measures. Its splash headline declares that 170 healthcare advocacy groups oppose drug importation, touting a letter to Congress signed by its many members. It lists 160, and PhRMAs name is not included. Having a big membership allows the coalition to present what looks like a unified show of grass-roots support but it does raise questions about which members of the coalition are really driving and funding the groups policymaking, said Matthew McCoy, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania who studies patient advocacy groups. The list of grass-roots groups includes at least 64 John Von Stach trade organizations representing the biomedical industry, professional associations representing pharmacists, a private research company and two insurance companies. One group that signed the letter, the Citrus Council, National Kidney Foundation of Florida Inc, represents a single volunteer, according to an email from the group. A spokesman for the National Kidney of Foundation of Florida said the volunteers views contradict the position of the umbrella group, and said the foundation supports any sort of drug importation that allows our patients to have access to drugs at the best price. Two of the hepatitis advocacy groups listed the National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces and the California Hepatitis C Task Force are run by the same person: Bill Remak. Remak said the groups receive small amounts of PhRMA funding. I dont enjoy having to take this extreme position of saying we shouldnt import at all, but until we have some oversight regime, some way of protecting consumers, its a really tough call, he said in an interview. Current drug importation proposals do not appear to have equal safety and chain-of-custody accountability laid out adequately for patient safety concerns, said William Arnold, president of the Community Access National Network, an advocacy and support group for people living with HIV/AIDS or hepatitis in Washington, D.C.
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