FDA Wants Couriers, Credit Card Issuers to Betray Prescription Reimporters

January 4, 2004

December 16, 2003

The Food and Drug Administration wants major package carriers and credit card

companies to " rat " on companies that reimport large amounts of prescription

drugs from Canada, the Wall Street Journal reported recently.

FDA officials have contacted a trade association representing package carriers

and several major credit card companies to set up meetings, and they plan to

contact individual package carriers by the end of the year.

Officials from FedEx, United Parcel Service, Visa USA and MasterCard

International said they will meet with FDA regulators to discuss the issue, the

Journal reported. But it's unclear if the companies would be willing to betray

their Canadian customers.

FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs John Taylor said that the

agency might ask the companies to alert regulators if they find a pattern of

frequent or especially large reimportation shipments, and the agency also might

ask for help when it independently finds out about such operations.

" What we would like [the companies] to do is work with us voluntarily to take

steps to ensure they're not unwitting partners in schemes to introduce illegal

drugs into the United States, " Taylor said, adding that the FDA wants " some type

of due diligence that is more proactive and preventative than in the past. "

FDA officials said that they are not faulting the companies' current operating

procedures and that the agency would not be seeking to investigate individuals

who are reimporting drugs for their personal use.

It's the latest escalation in the battle over reimportation.

The role of package carriers and credit card companies already has come under

questioning from the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

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