Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb condemns importation proposals and points out Florida’s sordid history with wholesale counterfeit drugs

Today at the National Press Club former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb addressed the issue of importation and specifically talked about the irony of Florida attempting to do it. Commissioner Gottlieb reminded us that the reason we have the pedigree system we're implementing now (Track and Trace) is because criminal wholesalers in Florida in the early 2000's were guilty of introducing counterfeit medicines from overseas into America. You can read more about these counterfeiters in the book, "Dangerous Doses" by Katherine Eban. PSM Board member Rick Roberts received a counterfeit from one of the criminal Florida companies operating during this crisis.

Commissioner Gottlieb then reminded the audience that the FDA just recently warned a company partially based in Florida that's been accused of bringing dangerous medicines into America that purport to be Canadian.

He was clear that importation is not safe and can't be implemented safely.