[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 77 (Monday, June 13, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H4373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES

  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 rise again tonight on the floor of the 
House to talk about the issue of prescription drugs and how much 
Americans pay relative to consumers in the rest of the industrialized 
world. What we have on this chart are the prices effective February 7, 
2005, so they are relatively new. We have prices here from the 
Metropolitan Pharmacy in Frankfurt, Germany, and a local pharmacy in my 
hometown of Rochester, Minnesota.
  Over the last year, we expected the prices to narrow because of what 
has happened to the dollar relative to the euro, but, in fact, the 
price difference between what Americans pay and Germans pay has 
actually gotten worse.
  Let me give a couple of examples. A drug called Norvasc, 30 tablets, 
5 milligrams, in Rochester, Minnesota, $54.83. In Germany, only $19.31.
  Drop down to another drug, and these are 10 of the most commonly 
prescribed drugs in the United States and in Europe. Zocor, $85.39 for 
a month's supply in the United States, and in Germany it is $23.83.
  Mr. Speaker, what is important about that particular drug is for many 
of the programs, including many of the Federal employees, the copay 
here in the United States for that drug is $30. You can walk in off the 
street and buy it at the Metropolitan Pharmacy in Frankfurt, Germany, 
for less than the copay in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, the chart speaks for itself. The total for the 10 most 
commonly prescribed drugs in Germany is $455.57. In the United States 
it is more than double that at $1,040.04.
  The question is how does this happen? The answer is Americans are 
held hostage because pharmaceutical companies get a special provision 
that nobody else gets. They deal with intellectual property, and the 
cost of that first product coming off the line is very expensive and 
that is why they have to have these high prices. I understand that. The 
cost of the research for a new drug is extremely high. That first new 
pill can cost 350, 400, maybe even $500 million. But it is the same 
thing for Intel when they develop a new chip, but Intel does not get 
the same protections. They cannot sell their chips to Germans for half 
the price they sell them to Americans because the suppliers would start 
selling them back in the United States. That is what is called parallel 
trade, and that is what they have had in Germany for a long time.
  Throughout the European Union, a pharmacist in Germany can buy their 
supplies from Spain or from Norway or wherever they can buy that Zocor 
cheaper. As a result, they have a competitive marketplace over there. 
If Members want to learn more about that, we have a videotape by Dr. 
Peter Rost, who is an M.D. and he is an executive with one of the 
largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, and he has come out in 
favor of parallel trading.
  He is very strongly in favor of the bill I have introduced which is 
cosponsored by a wide range of Members of the House which would open up 
the pharmaceutical markets, much as we do with everything else.
  I also want to say a special tribute to Minnesota's governor, 
Governor Tim Pawlenty, because he was one of the first governors to 
recognize that Minnesotans should not be held hostage. And now he has 
opened up not just the drugs from Canada, but we have actually opened 
up to Great Britain as well.
  One of the things that he often says is the industry says this is 
unsafe. He says if it is really unsafe, show me the dead Canadians and 
the dead Europeans and the dead Germans.
  The truth of the matter is they do this every day and they are not 
genetically smarter than we are. We ought to have the same ability to 
use parallel trade to reduce these outrageous prices here in the United 
States.
  I also want to show a letter that I, and 220 of my colleagues, sent 
to the Speaker of the House recently. A majority of the Members of this 
House want to have a vote to allow Americans to have access to world-
class drugs at world market prices, and we are going to continue to put 
pressure on the leadership, on the administration, on the FDA, whoever 
it takes to make certain Americans get fair prices.
  Mr. Speaker, ultimately we do not want something for nothing. We do 
not believe we ought to take advantage of somebody else, but we do not 
think we should be taken advantage of either, and it is time Americans 
get fair prices. It really is time that the world's best customers have 
access to the world's best drugs at world market prices.
  I hope more Members will join me in this effort because I believe the 
time has come to make that certain we open up these markets so we get 
fair prices for consumers. Whatever their particular condition, we want 
fair prices and we want them now.

                          ____________________