Pfizer Now Backing Anti-Meth Laws April 14, 2005
News Summary
Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer, Inc., which had strongly opposed state laws limiting sales of over-the-counter cold medications to fight production of methamphetamine, has now reversed its position, the Wall Street Journal reported April 13.Pfizer's Sudafed, like many cold medicines, contains pseudoephedrine, which meth cooks can use to make the illicit stimulant. But Pfizer recently introduced a new version of the cold drug, Sudafed PE, that contains no pseudoephedrine, and also has embraced efforts to control sales of cold pills in pharmacies. Sudafed PE contains phenylephrine.
Lawmakers in states and Congress have proposed taking drugs with pseudoephedrine off store shelves and putting them behind pharmacy counters, limiting purchase amounts, and requiring buyers to sign for the drugs. By backing such laws, Pfizer is helping to push competitors' products -- such as Dimetapp Extentabs and Tylenol Cold & Flu -- off the shelves just as the unrestricted Sudafed PE comes on the market, and before other drug companies can develop similar products.
Many law-enforcement personnel complained that the company only dropped its opposition to the laws when it served its bottom line. "Pfizer's strategy in the war on meth seems self-serving, to say the least," said Will Pinkston, an aide to Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen. "Pfizer last year was probably the largest opponent I had," said Marvin Van Haaften, director for the governor's Office of Drug Control Policy in the state of Iowa. "This year, Pfizer became a close friend of mine."
Pfizer spokesman Jay P. Kosminsky replied: "We've done the right thing all along ... As the issue has evolved, our position has evolved."
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