[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13907]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE HIGH COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

  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 to speak to the House today 
about the cost of prescription drugs here in the United States, 
particularly relative to the rest of the world. Mark Twain once was 
talking about facts, and he said you can ignore the facts, you can deny 
the facts, you can even distort the facts, but in the end there they 
are.
  I would like to talk today about the facts because there are people 
in this town who are attempting to both deny and distort the facts, but 
I think the facts more and more are indisputable. For example, we have 
been doing much of our own research. We purchased a number of the top-
selling drugs in Munich, Germany, about a month ago. For example, we 
bought this package of Glucophage. Glucophage is a marvelous drug, 
particularly for those suffering from diabetes. We bought this drug in 
Munich, Germany, at a pharmacy for $5. This same package of Glucophage 
sells here in the United States for $29.95. We bought another drug, a 
very commonly prescribed drug that is a blood thinner. In fact, my 
father takes this drug. It's called Coumadin. Coumadin here in the 
United States, this package of Coumadin sells for roughly $84. We 
bought this drug in Germany for $21. But I think the one that bothers 
me the most, and I have talked about this before and I still do not 
have a good answer and frankly some of the people in the FDA ought to 
help us get the answer, this is a drug called Tamoxifen, perhaps the 
real miracle drug as it relates to treating women's breast cancer. 
Tamoxifen. We bought this drug in Munich, Germany, for $59.05 American. 
It sells here in the United States, the same box, same milligrams, it 
sells for $360; $60 in Germany, $360 here.
  The question we have to ask is why? Why the big disparities? And some 
people say it is price controls, but that is not exactly true in 
Germany. The Germans do not have what some people say they do in terms 
of price controls. What they do allow is for their pharmacists to be 
able to shop around to get the best price. Unfortunately, Americans are 
held hostage. If one goes to Tokyo, Japan, and buys a steak, that steak 
will cost over $100. One can buy that same steak here in Washington 
even at inflated Washington, D.C. prices, for probably $25. Back in my 
home district one can buy the best steak in town in many of the towns I 
represent for $10 or $15. But the difference is the Japanese are held 
captive. They do not allow American beef into their markets; so those 
captive Japanese are forced to pay those higher prices.
  What we are saying in the legislation which I hope to introduce next 
week is let our people go. Allow the markets to work, open up markets. 
And that is why I have sponsored the Pharmaceutical Market Access bill. 
Facts are stubborn things, as John Adams said. I would invite Members 
and those who may be watching to get a copy of this book: The title is 
``The Big Fix, How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips American Consumers 
Off.'' It is by Katharine Greider. I do not know that much about 
Katharine Greider, but she has got some very interesting things to say 
about what has been happening in the pharmaceutical industry.
  Finally, let me say the big argument is safety, safety, safety, we 
cannot guarantee that if people buy their drugs from Munich, Germany, 
or Geneva, Switzerland, that those drugs will be safe. But I would 
invite the Members to look at some of the counterfeit-proof technology 
that is available today. There are companies that make this technology 
so that we can guarantee that this is in fact Coumadin and not 
something else. We can do this safely. Americans deserve world-class 
drugs at world market prices. Americans are willing to subsidize sub-
Saharan Africa. We are unwilling to continue to subsidize the starving 
Swiss. I hope Members will get the facts. I hope Members will look at 
this bill. I hope Members will cosponsor it with me. And I hope finally 
we will do something to stop these huge disparities between what 
Americans pay and what consumers around the rest of the industrialized 
world pay for the same drugs.

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