Iowa PIRG: Victory! We Prevailed Over Big Pharma
By Meshawn Ayala, Iowa PIRG Citizen Outreach Director

Thanks to your activism a strong prescription drug safety bill passed the U.S. House and the Senate is poised to pass the same bill.

This is the strongest drug safety bill to pass Congress in decades. It includes all of our safety priorities including our top priority which requires drug companies to make public the results of all of the safety studies they do - good or bad - on the internet so that doctors and patients know the risk associated with a drug.

However, the Bush administration still must sign the drug safety bill.

You can help make sure that the president doesn't capitulate to the wishes of Big Pharma by refusing to sign the bill. Join me in telling President Bush to sign the drug safety bill.

To take action, click on the link below or paste it into your browser:
https://www.uspirg.org/action/health-care/strong-bill?id4=ES

Then help spread the word by forwarding this message to your family and friends!


Background

The drugs in your medicine cabinet will soon be safer because Congress passed strong drugs safety legislation.

The House and Senate hammered out an agreement on a final drug safety bill earlier this week and the House passed it on Wednesday. The Senate will pass the identical bill, but the President, who has sided with the pharmaceutical industry and their goal of weak drug safety reforms, still must sign the bill.

The pharmaceutical industry has opposed many of the safety reforms in the bill, but in the end there were too many headlines about dangerous drugs and Congress had to act. We're glad they did.

Our top drug safety priority passed. Drug makers must release the results of their safety studies on-line. No more hiding unflattering or dangerous results. This will help patients and doctors figure out if the drug's risk is worth its benefits.

The bill also authorizes the FDA to issues fines of up to $10 million for drug makers who fail to complete follow-up drug safety studies. Drug makers used to routinely ignore follow-up studies. The threat of this stiff fine should get their attention.

The bill includes other good safety provisions such as strengthening conflicts-of-interest rules at the FDA and increasing by $225 million the budget for follow-up drug safety studies. These studies are extremely important for people taking drugs for years at a time to control chronic conditions.

Together we can make sure this legislation is signed into law. Join me in telling President Bush to sign the strong drugs safety legislation passed by Congress.

To take action, click on the link below or paste it into your browser:
https://www.uspirg.org/action/health-care/strong-bill?id4=ES

Sincerely,

Meshawn Ayala
Iowa PIRG Citizen Outreach Director
MeshawnA@iowapirg.org
http://www.IowaPIRG.org