Survey: Americans Don't Favor Drug Imports from Non-Canadian Countries

Survey: Americans Don't Favor Drug Imports from Non-Canadian Countries; Details of Drug Import Bill Meet Stiff Resistance in All Quarters, with Older Americans, Women Most Strongly Opposed

3/8/2005 10:30:00 AM

To: National Desk, Medical Reporter

Contact: Mike Collins, 202-756-4983, for The ALS Association; The InterAmerican College of Physicians & Surgeons; The Kidney Cancer Association; The National Association for the Mentally Ill; and The National Coalition of Women with Heart Disease

WASHINGTON, March 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A new survey of attitudes about importing prescription drugs shows that more than 50 percent of Americans do not favor imports from nations other than Canada. Permitting imports from upwards of 26 different industrialized countries in Asia and the European Union is a key provision in each of the drug importation proposals now pending in Congress.

"Most Americans do not favor importing prescription drugs from countries other than Canada," noted Kellyanne Conway of the polling company(tm), which conducted the survey, sponsored by the InterAmerican College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Kidney Cancer Association and the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease.

"There's widespread and strong opposition to Asian and European drug imports in virtually every quarter -- but mostly among the same older Americans that the importation proposals claim to help," Conway said. "In fact, the so-called 'gatekeepers' of health care opinion - women and seniors, mainly -- are the ones most likely to oppose imports, regardless of where those drugs originate."

Conway examined reactions to major provisions of drug importation legislation now pending in Congress, asking 800 Americans their reactions to importing drugs from European Union countries like Greece, Portugal and Spain, Estonia, Latvia and Malta and Asian countries such as Japan. Among the key findings of the poll:

Public support for drug importation decreased significantly when respondents were asked about specific countries. Respondents were far less likely to support importing medicines from European countries like Greece, Portugal and Spain (40 percent), European Union members like Estonia, Latvia and Malta (31 percent) or Asian countries like Japan (42 percent) than they are medicines from Canada (69 percent).

Senior citizens were least likely among all age groups to support importing prescription drugs regardless of source, while young adults ages 18 to 34 and those aged 35-44 were more likely than other age groups to support it.

Women are less likely to support importing overseas drugs than men, regardless of the nation of origin surveyed.

African Americans are 7 percentage points more likely than the average respondent to oppose importing medicines, even from Canada.

A 14-point plurality oppose bringing in drugs from European Union countries like Estonia, Latvia and Malta, with 45 percent opposed and just 31 percent in support. A full 23 percent were undecided.

Conway participated in a teleconference to discuss the poll results which also included Dr. Rene Rodriguez of the InterAmerican College of Physicians and Surgeons; Bill Bro, president of the Kidney Cancer Association; Andrew Sperling, director of Federal Legislative Advocacy of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill; and Steve Gibson, vice president of the ALS Association.

"Supporters of drug imports face three hurdles," said Conway, a respected pollster for over a decade. "First, they haven't told folks the full extent of their plan, that foreign drugs will be coming here not just from Canada but from every country in the European Union and from Asian countries like Japan - and that's where they lose people. Second, the group with supposedly the most at stake - senior citizens - is the one most likely to oppose it. Third, women - who traditionally comprise the majority of voters who decide on the basis of health-related issues - are less supportive than men, who tend to go to the polls with other issues on their minds."

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