[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 167 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H11511-H11512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2350
                      FAIR DRUG PRICES IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bishop of Utah). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. 
Gutknecht) is recognized until midnight as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I want to respond to something that the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) just spoke about. He asked 
if there would be any chance for market competition or bringing access 
to markets into this bill. The truth of the matter is, and I think the 
gentleman from Indiana answered the question almost correctly, the 
answer is this bill actually makes the situation worse.
  Currently, under current law, and this is not part of my bill, but 
this is current law, Americans have access to drugs from 26 different 
countries subject to the approval of the Secretary of HHS. Under the 
present Republican and under the previous Democratic administrations, 
we have two administrations who have refused to allow Americans to 
really have that access. I would like to talk about this issue because 
I think Members need to know that some time later this week we are 
probably going to have a vote on this very important issue.
  The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) also said the 
pharmaceutical companies might make tens of billions of dollars more in 
profits. I think that is probably being conservative. There is an 
estimate done by the University of Boston or Boston College as it used 
to be known, who has done a study who estimates that the pharmaceutical 
companies under this legislation stand to make an additional $139 
billion in profit.
  Now, I am a Republican, I believe in profit. There is nothing wrong 
with the word ``profit,'' but there is something wrong with the word 
``profiteer.'' I think it is a little like what the Supreme Court said 
a number of years ago about whether or not something was too graphic or 
whether or not it was pornography; we do not necessarily have to be 
able to define it to know it when you see it.
  I want to talk about the differences between what Americans actually 
pay for prescription drugs. People may argue about the source of this 
chart, but the more one looks at this chart, the more other people have 
actually done their own analysis, they have

[[Page H11512]]

come to the same conclusion. These numbers are about a year and a half 
old and the numbers have changed slightly, but the percentages are 
still the same.
  Augmentin, the average price in the United States for a 30-day supply 
is $55.50. In Europe that drug can be bought for $8.75, and in Canada 
the price is $12.
  Cipro, a very effective antibiotic, and probably when we had the 
scare with the anthrax, one of the most effective antibiotics ever 
developed, developed by a German company called Bayer. They sell the 
drug here in the United States for about $88. They sell it in Canada 
for $53, but in Europe you can buy the same drug for $46.
  Glucophage, one of the most effective antidiabetic drugs, developed 
here in the United States. Somehow it is hard to explain to our 
constituents that here in the United States that drug will sell for 
$124.65. One can buy it in Canada for $26.47, but it is available in 
Europe for $22.
  Why is it so much cheaper in Canada and Europe and some people say 
they have price controls, and we do not believe in price controls. In 
some respects that is true, but in Europe they make the drugs less 
expensive because they allow parallel trading. So a pharmacist in 
Germany if he can buy that Glucophage cheaper in Spain or Norway, he 
can buy it in Spain or Norway. That is called parallel trading, and 
that is allowed in most of the European Union.
  Let me tell Members something about the Europeans. They are not 
intrinsically smarter than Americans, and they do not have all of these 
safety concerns that our FDA does. They do keep records, and they know 
that almost nobody dies in Europe or Canada. I can go through this 
list, and the numbers, as I say, they are slightly different, but the 
percentages are almost always the same. The bottom line is this: The 
world's best customers, the American consumers, pay the world's highest 
prices in virtually every single category, and not just a little bit 
more, we pay a lot more. In fact, in almost every category, it is 
almost 30 percent more, and in some categories it is almost 300 percent 
more.
  For example, Tamoxifen is probably the most effective antibreast 
cancer drug ever developed. It was developed here in the United States, 
and it was developed by the American taxpayer. It was developed with 
funds from taxpayers. Taxpayer money through the CDC, through the NIH, 
we took that drug all of the way through phase two trials. Once we had 
it almost ready for market, we licensed it to a pharmaceutical company. 
Our reward, the taxpayers' reward, was they sell it to American 
consumers for $360 a month on average. They sell it in Canada for $60. 
They sell in Europe for $50.
  I think we ought to pay our fair share for the research costs, and I 
think we ought to subsidize the people in sub-Saharan Africa, but we do 
not need to subsidize the starving Swiss. It is time to open the 
markets. We have open markets when it comes to oranges and raspberries 
and almost every other product except prescription drugs.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Delahunt).
  Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge the gentleman's 
expertise. There is no one in this institution that has the depth of 
knowledge on the subject than the gentleman, and is certainly someone 
who is highly respected and regarded on this side of the aisle.
  During the course of the debate, there has been much attention given 
to the so-called safety issue. I do not know whether you have this, but 
can you inform me and my other colleagues and those that might be 
watching in terms of those in Canada or those Americans who have 
purchased pharmaceuticals from Canada, what are the numbers, how many 
fatalities are there, how many reported problems attendant to safety 
have actually occurred?
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for asking that 
important question because we hear the FDA and the pharmaceutical reps 
and other people saying it is safety, and this Henny Penny the sky is 
falling, but we keep records on this. The CDC keeps amazing records on 
how many people have died from taking drugs from other countries. The 
CDC is the official recordkeeper of all health statistics here in the 
United States. They keep very good records. We have had them testify in 
front of the subcommittee of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), 
and we have asked how many have died, and it is an easy, round number, 
and the number is zero.
  We also know if we go to the CDC files, we will find 264 Americans 
have become seriously ill from eating raspberries from Guatemala. So in 
effect, we are 264 times more likely to become seriously ill eating 
vegetables or fruits from other countries than from prescription drugs.
  Tomorrow night we are going to have another Special Order, and I 
invite people from the entire political spectrum, let us come down and 
talk about this because this is not a Republican issue, this is not a 
Democratic issue or right versus left, its right versus wrong. And what 
this House decided a few months ago on an overwhelming majority, it is 
wrong to hold American consumers captive. That is what is happening 
today. If this bill passes later this week, that is exactly what will 
continue to happen. I warn my colleagues that they will have to go home 
to their constituents and they are going to get asked a couple of very 
tough questions. And the first question is: Why is it Americans pay so 
much more for Tamoxifen or Glucophage or Coumadin or any of these other 
drugs, why is it we pay so much more?
  That is a tough question, but here is an even tougher question that 
they are going to have to answer: Congressman, what did you do about 
it? Ultimately, we are all going to have those kinds of questions. 
Republicans will have to answer them, and Democrats will have to answer 
them. That is why I think we ought to come together on a bipartisan 
basis and pass a bill that makes sense, that opens markets, allows 
competition. I am one who happens to believe in free markets and in 
competitive markets. I know this, when we have competitive markets, 
ultimately, the prices will level. The prices in Canada may go up a 
little bit, and the prices in Germany may go up a little bit, but the 
prices here in the United States will go down.
  I do not want American consumers going to Canada to buy their drugs. 
I do not want them to buy their drugs from Germany. I want to force the 
pharmaceutical companies to adjust their pricing strategies so we get 
fair prices here in the United States.

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