[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COZY DEALS BETWEEN NONPROFIT MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND FOR-PROFIT 
                               COMPANIES

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Last week, Mr. Speaker, the Wall Street Journal 
reported on some cozy deals between nonprofit medical research 
institutes and for-profit companies. It works this way: a nonprofit 
institute wins millions in research dollars from the National 
Institutes of Health. The director of the institute also happens to own 
a for-profit company that has exclusive rights to the institute's 
research. The for-profit company turns that research into a marketable 
product and makes millions. Everyone is flush, except for American 
taxpayers.
  Does this raise conflict-of-interest issues? You bet. Why is the 
Federal Government using our tax dollars to give for-profit companies a 
free ride? Good question.
  Why do Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the 
world, when billions of U.S. tax dollars go into the development of 
these drugs? Because Congress is not doing its job.
  The U.S. invests more than any other nation in medical research. The 
drug industry feeds off our tax dollars to develop outrageously 
profitable drugs, and then they ``thank'' American taxpayers by 
charging us the highest prices in the world.
  It is a racket, and it must stop. Drug companies must compensate 
taxpayers fairly through lower prices or royalty payments for our 
front-end investment in their products.

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