(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/12/2023) A bill that ends immunity from liability for drug manufacturers and sellers if their product is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was voted unanimously out of the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.
House Democrats used its drive to repeal the state’s drug immunity law as its flagship campaign issue for a number of cycles in the aughts and the teens while Republicans resisted. Thursday, both of the panel’s Republicans supported the law's repeal.
Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) said supporters of the drug immunity law claimed at the time it passed in the 1990s that it would result in lower drug prices for Michigan, but he’s seen no proof that that has been the case.
“Instead, it’s denied a lot of people who were harmed from being made whole,” he told MIRS.
He added that he has seen proof that pharmaceutical companies knew their FDA-approved opioids were addictive but continued to push them aggressively on consumers anyway.
“This was a good bill.”
Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly), the committee's other Republican, also voted yes on SB 410.
“It's simply not fair that Michigan residents are the only people in the entire country who cannot have their day in court if they are harmed by a pharmaceutical product. This helps to level the playing field,” Johnson told MIRS.
Ending drug immunity has been a party-line issue ever since 2007 when it passed the House, said Bruce Timmons, a retired legislative attorney testifying in support of the bill Thursday
Michigan is the only state with such a law, and 19 bills to reverse or alter it have been introduced since 1995.
In Sen. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor)’s SB 410 testimony last week, he said current law prevents the state from getting compensation from the drug companies when they create dangerous drugs.
Irwin said the FDA is not perfect as it is pressured by Pharma and desperate patients, but it is not a guarantor of the drugs and this law designed to grow the pharmaceutical industry in Michigan has not panned out, citing Pfizer Inc.’s lab closing more than 15 years ago.
The Michigan Manufacturers Association wrote in a card opposing the bill and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Detroit Disability Power, Michigan Association for Justice and the Michigan Nurses Association wrote in cards supporting the bill.
“We’re the only state whose residents are denied recovery for harm caused by FDA-approved drugs that turned out to be defective,” Timmons said. “There is no reason to hesitate action on the bill currently.”
