[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 13, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H3998-H3999]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       THE HIGH PRICE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN THE UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor of the House again 
tonight to talk about something that needs to be resolved, and we in 
Congress need to get serious about it, and that is the high price that 
Americans pay for prescription drugs relative to the rest of the world. 
And we see this chart here, and again I do not ask people to take my 
word for this. I would ask them to do their own research, but the 
interesting thing is millions of Americans are doing that research for 
themselves, and they are coming to exactly the same conclusion, and 
that is Americans pay far more than anyone else in the industrialized 
world for the same drugs.
  Let us look at this chart. These numbers are average numbers, and 
they are from the year 2002. The source is the Life Extension 
Foundation, but there are other groups doing the same kind of research, 
getting essentially the same results.
  Let us look at some of the drugs that we buy in large quantities in 
the United States. Cipro, we all know about Cipro after the anthrax 
scare. It is a very effective antibiotic. It is made by a German 
company called Bayer. We in the United States usually call it Bayer, 
Bayer Aspirin, for example. In the United States, the average price for 
a 30-day supply is about $88. That same drug can be bought in Canada 
for $53.55, but in Germany where they make the drug, they sell it for 
$40.75.
  Going on down the list, here is another very important drug. It is a 
miracle drug for many people suffering with diabetes called Glucophage. 
In the United States, according to Life Extension Foundation, the 
average price for a 30-day supply is $124.65. That same drug can be 
bought in Canada in the same dosage for $26.47, and in Germany they can 
buy it for $22.
  Let us look at Norvasc, another very popular drug here in the United 
States; $67 here, $46 in Canada and only $33 in Europe.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not here to say shame on the pharmaceutical 
industry, and perhaps I should, but the truth of the matter is it is 
shame on us. We are requiring Americans to pay anywhere from 30 to 300 
percent more.
  Last week I had down on the floor a little box of some drugs, a very 
powerful and wonderful drug. It is called to tamoxifen. Tamoxifen is 
perhaps the best anti-breast cancer drug ever discovered, but let me 
share this. In the United States, and we checked it out at the local 
pharmacy here in Washington, for 100 tablets, 20 milligrams, the price 
was $360. We can buy that same package of drugs in Munich, Germany for 
$59.05; $60 there, $360 here, six times more that Americans are 
required to pay for this life-saving drug.

[[Page H3999]]

That is wrong, and we should do something about it.
  Let me talk about the law because many people, particularly our 
friends at the FDA, are hiding behind the law. This is the actual law 
that they use to keep Americans from importing FDA-approved drugs from 
FDA-approved facilities, and here is what it says: The Secretary of the 
Treasury shall deliver to the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
upon his request samples of food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics which 
are being imported or offered for import to the United States, giving 
notice thereof to the owner or consignee who may appear before the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, and some more legal goop, but 
here is what it comes down to. There are three criteria.

                              {time}  1945

  The first is, if it appears from the examination of such samples or 
otherwise, that one such article has been manufactured, processed or 
packed under unsanitary conditions. We cannot say that about these 
drugs.
  Or, two, such article is forbidden or restricted in sale in this 
country in which it was produced or from which it was exported. These 
are legal drugs in both the United States and in the other countries we 
are talking about.
  Or, three, and this is the last one, such article is adulterated, 
misbranded or in violation of section 355 of this title. These drugs 
are legal. We are not talking about bringing in illegal drugs; we are 
talking about legal drugs from countries that are FDA approved.
  It is not shame on them; it is shame on us for letting this situation 
exist.
  Let me just tell you what this amounts to. Our own Congressional 
Budget Office tells us that, over the next 10 years, seniors in the 
United States of America will spend $1.8 trillion on prescription 
drugs. Simple arithmetic, do the math yourself, we believe, and I think 
this is being very conservative, if we simply open up markets, as we do 
with every other product in this country, just open up those markets, 
we can save a minimum of 35 percent; 35 percent of $1.8 trillion is 
$630 billion. Shame on us.
  We are going to be talking here on the House floor in the next 
several weeks about a prescription drug benefit, maybe under Medicare, 
maybe under Medicaid. Clearly there are a lot of seniors falling 
through the cracks. But the issue is not so much coverage; the issue is 
affordability. We need to do something about it.
  I am going to introduce a bill later this week. I hope my colleagues 
will join me in cosponsoring that bill.

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