Wolf Amendment Defeated!

ALERT

November 8, 2005

WOLF AMENDMENT DEFEATED!

Great news! On November 4, 2005, a U.S. House-Senate conference committee dropped a controversial provision that gave the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) authority to review, and potentially block, the sale of all new prescription opioids.

The legislation, promoted by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) and attached to a multi-department appropriations bill, passed last year with little notice. This year, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pharmaceutical manufacturers, doctors who treat people with pain and many others objected to renewing it, and the provision was stripped from the bill. Opponents of the bill believed that the provision was an unwarranted intrusion by a law enforcement agency into the FDA's drug-review system. Pain specialists also said that DEA reviews could jeopardize development of new drugs needed by people with chronic pain.

The Congressional Appropriations Conference Committee decided to remove language from the proposed appropriations bill that would have allowed the DEA to force delays or veto newly approved FDA pain medicines from reaching the market. The troublesome amendment was removed from the final bill.

The American Pain Foundation along with the American Academy of Pain Medicine and others worked to inform the public and the Conferees about the potential harm to people with pain if this amendment were enacted.


http://www.painfoundation.org
Thank you, RSDHope