Schwarzenegger vetoes drug reimportation bill

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program and Medicaid program to purchase lower-cost drugs from Canadian pharmacies, The [San Jose] Mercury News reports. The bill, approved by state lawmakers in May, would have allowed the California Department of Health Services to reimburse pharmacies participating in ADAP and Medi-Cal for prescription drugs bought from Canadian pharmacies, where price controls result in significantly lower prices than charged for the same medicines in U.S. pharmacies. Schwarzenegger said the measure would have violated federal law and "exposed the state to civil, criminal, and tort liability." He also raised questions about the safety of reimported medications. AIDS activists say the governor missed a key opportunity to help lower the cost of anti-HIV treatments for ADAP and Medi-Cal enrollees and avoid financial shortfalls at the programs due to the high costs of medications. "The governor today missed the opportunity to demonstrate that he places the well-being of Californians before big business and the profits of drug companies," said AIDS Healthcare Foundation executive director Michael Weinstein. Several Republican lawmakers praised Schwarzenegger's veto of the bill, saying the measure would have reduced profits at pharmaceutical companies and thereby cut the amount of money the companies could invest in new drug research.