"The pressure is not to tell people you have to go outside this country to buy prescription drugs. The pressure is to force the pharmaceutical companies to re-price their drugs in the US," said Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who has introduced with Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, a bill to make importation of prescription drugs legal.
The issue remains overwhelmingly popular with voters, even though the government estimates it would do little to actually cut the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs. And there is continued opposition to imported drugs, as well.
Still, Republicans and Democrats alike see the shift in control of Congress as an opportunity to advance previously blocked legislation. The issue generally is called reimportation, since many of the medicines are made in the United States or by US companies.
"Things were headed in the right direction with reimportation to begin with, but the election will speed up that process because it's removed leadership that was opposed to reimportation. I am a Republican and support leadership in general, but on reimportation they were opposed to it," said Senator David Vitter of Louisiana.
Vitter and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida recently sponsored legislation to halt the seizures of imported Canadian drugs for personal use -- something the government now allows only on a limited basis.
And Vitter continues to block confirmation of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, President Bush's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, until federal drug import laws are further relaxed.
But the FDA says it can't vouch for the safety or efficacy of imported drugs. This summer, the agency said testing revealed fake versions of Lipitor and other widely used prescription drugs ordered online sites linked to a Canadian pharmacy but shipped from other countries.
Nelson, too, intends to make such legislation a priority. He wants to either bar the use of government funds to enforce the rules or authorize the import of drugs certified as safe from Canada and select other countries on a case-by-case basis, spokesman Dan McLaughlin said.
The drug industry, which generally opposes such legislation, is bracing for an onslaught.
