[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  1,160-PERCENT INCREASE IN DRUG PRICE

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                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 11, 1998

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, enclosed is a copy of a letter I've received 
from a Midwestern doctor.

       Dear Representative Stark: I am not from your district or 
     even from California but I know your interest in problems 
     with the pharmaceutical industry so I wanted to share this 
     outrage I just found out to my dismay.
       I called the Darby Drug Company to order a thousand tablets 
     of the generic for Lomotil and found that what had been 
     $27.95 in 1997 is now $325.00--honestly--more than a 10% 
     increase. I could not believe it but was told it is true. 
     They don't have the 1998 catalogue yet but they say that is 
     the new price.
       Help!
       I have seen increases in the prices of drugs that seemed 
     too high, but this is absurd. How can they get away with it? 
     Certainly the cost of making it did not go up more than 10 
     times in less than a year. The reason given me was that now 
     there is only one company making it--a lame excuse for taking 
     such advantage of patients in need.
       Thanks for your efforts to protect the poor consumer.

       

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