[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 151 (Monday, November 1, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H11148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE AFFORDABLE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, many of us have come to the House 
floor one after another talking about lowering the high cost of 
prescription drugs, especially for the elderly and underinsured. 
Unfortunately, Republicans have simply refused to join Democrats to 
fight the drug companies and reduce these high prices and help protect 
public health.
  Let us look at the numbers. More than 75 percent of Medicare 
beneficiaries have no coverage or inadequate MediGap coverage for 
prescription drugs. At least one-third of Medicare beneficiaries have 
no drug coverage at all. Forty-four million Americans do not have 
health insurance. That means they also, obviously, do not have coverage 
to help pay the high cost of prescription drugs.
  Meanwhile, drug companies charge Americans higher prices, in many 
cases twice as high, sometimes three times, four times, five times as 
high, compared to prices paid by the citizens of any other 
industrialized Nation.
  An average dosage, 60 tablets of Zocor for high cholesterol, costs 
$44 in Canada and $102 in the United States. One month's supply of 
Tamoxifen for breast cancer sells for $156 in the United States and 
only $12 in Canada.
  The drug industry repeatedly tells the American people that any 
reduction in prices will cause them to dramatically curtail and cut 
back their research and development efforts. It is difficult for some 
of us to take these threats seriously. Who pays for a majority of 
research and development costs for new drugs in the United States, 
anyway? The answer is American taxpayers.
  The fact is Congress, where the drug industry's multi-million dollar 
lobbying campaign and operation has such great influence, has granted 
this industry enormous tax breaks for research and development.
  At the same time, the National Institutes of Health and non-
governmental research organizations fund more than half of all research 
and development for drug companies without charge. Then drug companies 
take the information they patented and they market another new and very 
lucrative miracle drug to Americans, and charge them the highest prices 
in the world.
  It is no secret what is going on here. Drug companies simply are 
doing what they need to do to maximize profits. Unlike every other 
industrialized nation in the world, the U.S. does not in any way tamper 
with or regulate drug prices. What is the effect? Drug companies charge 
us the highest prices of any country in the world by multiples of two, 
three, and even four times what other countries pay.
  Who are the victims? The victims are always those with the least 
bargaining power: those without insurance, those who are elderly, those 
who are poorest. From a market perspective, what the drug companies are 
doing is appropriate. They are maximizing their profits. That is their 
job.
  It is equally appropriate that Democrats in Congress are taking the 
lead in protecting seniors and the uninsured, and to address the 
ramifications of what drug companies are doing to the disadvantaged. 
That is our job.
  Understand, again, 50 percent of all research and development costs 
for the research and development of new drugs in this country are paid 
for by taxpayers. Understand also that Congress has bestowed on those 
drug companies generous tax breaks on the money they do spend on 
research and development. Then understand that drug companies show 
their appreciation to American taxpayers by charging us two and three 
and four times what citizens of every other country in the world pay.
  How can we lower prescription drug costs? We can lower prices through 
competition. I have introduced a bill that would permit competitors, 
that would permit generic companies to enter the market for drugs when 
they are unreasonably priced, whether the drug's patent has expired or 
not. The patent-holder would receive royalties for being the first on 
the market. Generic companies would compete with them, and Americans 
would receive a price break fueled by competition.
  The bill would require drug companies to publicly disclose audited 
information justifying the prices that they do charge.
  I urge my Republican colleagues to stop stonewalling. I urge them to 
join Democrats in lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Let us act 
before it is too late.

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