Dems Patty Murray and Michael Bennet help GOP kill a Sanders-Warren bill to lower drug prices

[pnwmom]

38. I just added another link about how difficult a challenge this already is.

We do need less expensive drugs, and there must be a way to do it -- but this is what we're up against.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK202523/

The drug distribution system becomes more disordered as the products leak out of regulated distribution chains. The risk increases as drugs move farther from the manufacturer en route to the vendor. Licensed pharmacies and dispensaries can control the quality of their stock, at least insomuch as they can trust their wholesalers. There are no such efforts at quality control in the unlicensed market. Unlicensed vendors are often minimally educated. They may approach medicines dispensing as any other sales job and not want a customer to leave without making a purchase. In general, these vendors exploit the chaos inherent to street markets and dry goods shops in low- and middle-income countries and to online drug stores in middle- and high-income ones. Their stock is poor because the stockists are either unable or unwilling to judge quality.

Their customers are similarly ill-equipped to evaluate the dangers of buying medicine outside of controlled chains. Unlicensed medicine vendors fill a need, especially in poor countries, when time, expense, and distance impede access to registered pharmacies. Internet pharmacies can fill a similar void, appealing to customers eager to save time and money or to purchase discretely. Both types of market are dangerous and more similar than they may appear at first glance. A Chinese military pharmacist described the appeal of unlicensed medicine shops: “There are people who choose to seek medical help from these places, possibly because of lower prices or privacy concerns, which may increase their chances of getting counterfeit products” (Quingyun, 2012). The observation is true of all unregulated pharmacies. Street markets and the internet are a main source of falsified and substandard medicines for patients around the world (WHPA, 2011). The committee believes some changes to medicines retail could improve the world's vast and disorganized pharmaceutical bazaars.