FDA Wants Couriers, Credit Card Issuers to Betray Prescription Reimporters

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.