WASHINGTON - A legal analysis by the American Law Division of the Congressional Research Service has determined that President-elect George Bush's new secretary of Health and Human Services has the power to implement the Prescription Drug Reimportation plan overturned by current secretary Donna Shalala, U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.) said in a statement Thursday.

"This analysis gives new life to my goal of bringing lower prescription drug prices to all Americans," Jeffords said in a prepared statement. "I was extremely disappointed that Secretary Shalala would play politics with such an important issue."

Jeffords commissioned the analysis.

On Dec. 26, Shalala rejected $23 million in federal funding that was appropriated for FDA implementation costs of the plan in the fiscal year 2001 appropriations bill. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 29, 2000.)

The House provisions would have allowed the reimportation of FDA-approved prescription drugs for personal use from countries with lower drug prices. The Senate version, sponsored by Jeffords (R-Vt.), would permit pharmacists and wholesalers to purchase FDA-approved drugs from countries where the identical drug is sold for less.

- Kim Coghill