[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 24, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8131-S8132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself and Ms. Stabenow):
  S. 1229. A bill to amend the Federal Food Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 
permit individuals to import prescription drugs in limited 
circumstances; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation that 
helps to correct the injustice that finds American consumers the least 
likely of any in the industrialized world to be able to afford drugs 
manufactured by the American pharmaceutical industry. The reason is the 
unconscionable prices the industry charges only here in the United 
States.
  I am under no illusion that this legislation provides comprehensive 
or ultimate relief to Americans who are struggling to afford the 
prescription drugs they need. However, this bill does expose and 
highlight the problem American consumers face and it provides a certain 
measure of immediate relief for individuals struggling with the high 
cost of prescription drugs.
  When I return to Minnesota which I do frequently, I meet with many 
constituents, but none with more compelling stories than senior 
citizens struggling to make ends meet because of the high cost of 
prescription drugs, life-saving drugs that are not covered under the 
Medicare program. Ten or twenty years ago these same senior citizens 
were going to work everyday--in the stores, and factories, and mines in 
Minnesota, earning an honest paycheck, and paying their taxes without 
protest. Now they wonder, how can this government, their government, 
stand by, when the medicines they need are out of reach.
  It is not just that Medicare does not cover these drugs. The 
unfairness which Minnesotans feel is exacerbated of course by the high 
cost of prescription drugs here in the United States, the same drugs 
that can be purchased for frequently half the price in Canada or 
Europe. These are the exact same drugs, manufactured in the exact same 
facilities with the exact same safety precautions. A year ago, most 
Americans did not know that the exact same drugs are for sale at half 
the price in Canada. Today, you can bet the pharmaceutical industry 
wishes no one knew it. But the cat is out of the bag, and it is time 
for Congress to begin to address these inequities.
  Legislators, especially from Northern States but also from all around 
the country, have heard first-hand stories from constituents who are 
justifiably frustrated and discouraged when they can't afford to buy 
prescription drugs that are made in the United States, unless they go 
across the border to Canada where those same drugs, manufactured in the 
same facilities are available for about half the price. It is time to 
codify the right of Americans to go to Canada and certain other 
countries to buy the prescription drugs they need at a price they can 
afford. And it is time to allow Americans to obtain those necessary 
medications through the mail as well.

[[Page S8132]]

  Driving to Canada every few months to buy prescription drugs at 
affordable prices isn't the solution; it is a symptom of how broken 
parts of our health care system are. Americans regardless of party have 
a fundamental belief in fairness, and know a rip-off when they see one. 
It is time to allow Americans to end-run that rip-off.
  While we can be proud of both American scientific research that 
produces new miracle cures and the high standards of safety and 
efficacy that we expect to be followed at the FDA, it is shameful that 
America's most vulnerable citizens, the chronically ill and the 
elderly, are being asked to pay the highest prices in the world here in 
the U.S. for the exact same medications manufactured here but sold more 
cheaply overseas.
  That is why today I am introducing with Senator Stabenow the Personal 
Prescription Drug Import Fairness Act, a bill which will amend the 
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to allow Americans to legally import 
prescription drugs into the United States for their personal use as 
long as the drugs meet FDA's strict safety standards. With this 
legislation, Americans will be able to legally purchase these FDA-
approved drugs in person or by mail at huge savings.
  What this bill does is to address the absurd situation by which 
American consumers are paying substantially higher prices for their 
prescription drugs than are the citizens of Canada, and the rest of the 
industrialized world. This bill does not create any new Federal 
programs. Instead it uses principles frequently cited in both house of 
the Congress, principles of open trade and competition, on a personal 
level, to help make it possible for American consumers to purchase the 
prescription drugs they need.
  The need is clear. A recent informal survey by the Minnesota Senior 
Federation on the price of six commonly used prescription medications 
showed that Minnesota consumers pay, on average, nearly double, 196 
percent, that paid by their Canadian counterparts. These excessive 
prices apply to drugs manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical firms, the 
same drugs that are sold for just a fraction of the U.S. price in 
Canada and Europe.

  Now, however, Federal law allows only the manufacturer of a drug to 
import it into the U.S. It is time to stop protecting the 
pharmaceutical industry's outrageous profits, and they are outrageous, 
and give all Americans the legal right to purchase their prescription 
drugs directly from a pharmacy in a limited number of countries with 
regulatory systems the FDA has found meet certain minimal standards.
  Last year, the editors of Fortune Magazine, writing about 1999 
pharmaceutical industry profits, noted that ``Whether you gauge 
profitability by median return on revenues, assets, or equity, 
pharmaceuticals had a Viagra kind of year.'' In 2000, drug company 
profits were just as excessive.
  Let's take a look at the numbers, so there can be no mistake:
  Where the average Fortune 500 industry in the United States returned 
4.5 percent profits as a percentage of revenue, the pharmaceutical 
industry returned 18.6 percent.
  Where the average Fortune 500 industry returned 3.3 percent profits 
as a percentage of their assets, the pharmaceutical industry returned 
17 percent.
  Where the average Fortune 500 industry returned 14.6 percent profits 
as a percentage of shareholders equity, the pharmaceutical industry 
returned 29.4 percent.
  Those record profits are no surprise to America's senior citizens 
because they know where those profits come from, they come from their 
own pocketbooks. It is time to end the price gouging.
  We need every piece of legislation we can get to help assure our 
Senior Citizens and all Americans that safe and affordable prescription 
medications can be legally obtained from countries with a track records 
of prescription drug safety. The Personal Prescription Drug Import 
Fairness Act is one such step.
  We all know that the giant step this Congress should be taking is the 
enactment of a comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit. Such a 
benefit should address two issues. First, Medicare beneficiaries are 
entitled to a drug benefit as good as Congress provides for itself. 
That means a low deductible, 20 percent copay, a cap on out-of-pocket 
expenses of about $2,000, and affordable premiums. Second, we need 
seriously to address the outrageously high prices that Americans are 
forced to pay for prescription drugs. If we address those high prices, 
we can provide a comprehensive benefit at a price that is affordable to 
Medicare beneficiaries and to the Federal Government. I have already 
introduced a bill, S. 925, the Medicare Extension of Drugs to Seniors 
Act of 2001, that provides affordable comprehensive benefits and makes 
it possible to enact them by reigning in the ever increasing cost of 
pharmaceuticals using three complimentary approaches.
  But, while we wait for the Finance Committee and this Congress to act 
on a Medicare drug benefit, we should not lose the opportunity to 
provide some needed relief. That is why I am introducing the Personal 
Prescription Drug Import Fairness Act today.
  This bill includes specific protections, which were not included in a 
recent House-passed amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill. 
These protections include: 1. importation for personal use only of no 
more than a 3 month supply at any one time; 2. limitation on country of 
origin; 3. no importation of controlled substances or biologics; 4. 
requirement that imported drug be accompanied by a form prescribed by 
the Secretary of HHS in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury 
that makes clear what overseas pharmacy is dispensing the drug, who 
will be receiving it, and who will be responsible for the recipients 
medical care with the drug in the United States.
  The only things that are not protected in this bill are the excessive 
profits of the pharmaceutical industry. My job as a United States 
Senator is not to protect those profits but to protect the people. 
Colleagues, please join in and support this thoughtful and necessary 
bill that will help make prescription drugs more affordable to the 
American people.
                                 ______