Apparently on a crusade against drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline, Dan Rather aired another 100 percent biased report by Cynthia Bowers which condemned the company for cutting off shipments to Canadian resellers who vend GSK products to Americans using the Internet. Once again, no one from GSK was allowed to give the company's arguments.

While GSK is obviously motivated by profit, one of its other motivations is to avoid being sued by people who bought poor-quality or phony imitation drugs off the Net. As the company states on its Web site, GSK "believes that ordering medicines over the Internet from Canada or other countries is not the answer and puts patients at risk."

However, corporate flacks are not the only ones concerned with the issue of protecting consumers from potentially unsafe pharmaceuticals purchased online. Back in 1999 and 2000, when the Clinton Administration talked about (and placed) restrictions on Internet-bought prescription drugs, one CBS News reporter brought up the "potential health risk with just a couple of computer clicks."

Our friends at CBS News might defend themselves by claiming that neither Bowers nor Rather was present the nights of the earlier reports--but surely Bowers or her producer could have done a little bit of research and located the earlier stories.

See also "Drug Pushers: CBS's Biased Medicare Coverage."

Internet Drug Sellers are Good

DAN RATHER: Also going up rapidly is the cost of medicine. Some consumers have found a place to get prescription drugs at a discount. But now one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world has threatened to cut off that supply. CBS's Cynthia Bowers investigated this for tonight's Eye on America.
CYNTHIA BOWERS: The customers are lining up at Discount Drugs of Canada.
Unidentified Man #1: Whoever's next can come over here.
BOWERS: ...all looking to save money on medicine.
Unidentified Man #2: So you're going to save at least 50 percent on that.
BOWERS: Only this isn't a pharmacy, and it isn't in Canada. This nondescript storefront in Delray Beach, Florida, is the conduit between American consumers and Canadian pharmacists, who can fill their prescriptions for a fraction of what it costs here at home.
EARLE TUROW (Discount Drugs of Canada): The people have very difficult choices to make: whether to pay their rent on time or to pay it at all and take their medicine.
BOWERS: Earle Turow says demand is so high, he hopes to open dozens of franchises nationwide.
Unidentified Man #3: (On telephone) Good morning. Canadameds. Jeff speaking.
BOWERS: He can do that because of Canadian suppliers, like pharmacist Daren Jorgenson. Inside this unassuming building in a rundown part of Winnipeg, he runs a multimillion-dollar Internet drugstore, mailing medicine to people all across the country--
DAREN JORGENSON (Canadameds.com): Right now, we're servicing about 200,000 Americans, and we estimate the industry as a whole is nearing about two million Americans.
BOWERS: --people like Bill Carson, who's been getting his prescriptions from Canada for the last six months.
BILL CARSON (Customer): It costs about half as much.
BOWERS: For years, Americans living along the border have quietly crossed into Canada to get prescription drugs at discount prices, but now that operations like this one have made it possible for anybody to do it, billions of dollars are suddenly at stake and the drug manufacturers are crying foul.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is leading the charge. The maker of such drugs as Paxil and Advair sent this letter demanding Canadian pharmacies prove its products aren't being shipped to Americans or be cut off from future deliveries. Glaxo cites safety concerns and maintaining the drug supply for Canadian patients. But Jorgenson suspects there's more to it than that.
JORGENSON: Those people who wrote that letter answer to shareholders. I think that they would have a PR nightmare if they went to the woman in Iowa who's getting her breast cancer medication and told her she can't have it. So they're coming after us.
BOWERS: Many see this as a test case and another indication of a flawed system.
DAVID COLLINS (Dean of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba): I'm often informed that the U.S. system is far more efficient than our socialized system. If that's the case, why do they have to come to Canada?
BOWERS: Because as these piles of prescriptions bound for the States clearly show, many people have decided it's their best chance at staying on track with their medication and their money. In Winnipeg, I'm Cynthia Bowers for Eye on America.
RATHER: There's more CBS News straight ahead. African-Americans--no longer the largest minority group in this country; that story is next.
--Dan Rather and Cynthia Bowers on the CBS Evening News January 22, 2003.

DAN RATHER: Many Americans are taking a financial beating these days trying to pay for prescription drugs. Some have found ways to buy them at big discounts, but it appears not much longer because of what one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies is doing. CBS's Cynthia Bowers has late details. Cynthia.
CYNTHIA BOWERS: Dan, Americans who get those prescription drugs at a discount through Canadian pharmacies via the Internet may be about to lose that good deal.
DAREN JORGENSON (Canadameds.com): We're set for stock for the en--the short-term future, not the long-term future.
BOWERS: Through his Internet drugstore, Daren Jorgenson supplies hundreds of thousands of Americans with prescription drugs at a fraction of the cost, but he says once he runs out of his current supply, that may be it.
JORGENSON: We've sourced out other suppliers that are willing still con--supply us, but at a premium cost, which will then have to be passed on to the American consumer.
BOWERS: For years, Americans have trekked to Canada to buy drugs at much lower prices, but booming Internet sales now mean billions in lost profits to drugmakers. Glaxo recently announced it would cut off future shipments to distributors who can't prove their pharmacies aren't selling to Americans. United Pharmacists Limited became among the first to comply, because it says it can't risk cutting its Canadian customers off. Glaxo, for its part, says it is pleased at this show of support, and expects other distributors to follow suit.
The backlash has already begun. One American lawmaker promises within days to introduce legislation designed to force Glaxo to back off.
Rep. BERNARD SANDERS (I-Vt.): And they are the leader of the pack. If they are successful, I have no doubt that a lot of other drug companies will follow them.
BOWERS: So the battle lines are drawn. CBS News has been told that just today, Glaxo did cut off one multimillion-dollar Canadian wholesaler. How will this affect Americans? Well, cross-border prescription drug costs could jump 10 percent in coming weeks. And if the embargo sticks, prices from the Internet could ultimately rise to U.S. levels. Dan.
RATHER: Cynthia Bowers reporting live from Chicago.
--Dan Rather and Cynthia Bowers on the CBS Evening News, January 30, 2003.

Internet Drug Sellers are Bad

BOB SCHIEFFER: On the CBS HealthWatch, like everything else in cyberspace, online drugstores offer convenience and sometimes lower prices than the corner pharmacy, but some also offer prescription drugs without prescriptions. That had the White House calling today for new FDA regulations. Elizabeth Kaledin now looks at the problem and the proposed remedy.
ELIZABETH KALEDIN: It should be said from the start the majority of Internet drugstore companies are legitimate. They're places where people like Hugh Snyder can get his heart medication without leaving the house.
HUGH SNYDER (Customer): They called the doctor, got the prescription, and three days later, I had my medicine.
KALEDIN: But in the unregulated world of e-commerce, the Food and Drug Administration has encountered a bitter pill: rogue drugstores distributing prescription drugs without doctors or pharmacists on board.
JANE HENNEY (Food and Drug Administration): We do see an increasing number of sites that are now available that are selling either unapproved drugs or prescription drugs without a prescription.
KALEDIN: So for the first time, the federal government is cracking down, threatening investigations and harsh fines up to $ 1/2 million. Online drugstores will also require an FDA seal of approval, so consumers will know which sites are safe.
The rise in rogue drug sites has been fueled by a need for privacy. Among the biggest sellers are Viagra for impotence, Propecia for baldness, a variety of drugs for obesity.
CARMEN CATIZONE (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy): Because consumers either are embarrassed to use a traditional system or find the traditional system inconvenient.
KALEDIN: Pharmacy organizations have been trying to police themselves, but say it's getting harder and harder.
Mr. CATIZONE: Without any regulation, if we can't stop these activities, pretty much the--the door will be wide open for anybody to order from anywhere in the world any medication they want.
KALEDIN: So far, 12 Web sites have been shut down, 200 are being investigated. For now, the safest sites for getting prescriptions filled may still be the local drugstore. Elizabeth Kaledin, CBS News, New York.
--Bob Schieffer and Elizabeth Kaledin on the CBS Evening News, December 28, 1999.