Dan Burton: “Yes. And the question that comes up is why they are not doing that. They are supposed to protect the American consumer…”

“Yes. And the question that comes up is why they are not doing that. They are supposed to protect the American consumer and they are supposed to make sure the American consumer gets a fair deal, and it is simply not happening. I would like to just read from what the gentleman read, real quickly. Squid made $9 billion from Taxol, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and it has been used to treat 1 million cancer patients, but the National Institutes of Health got only $35 million back in royalties. Squibb made $9 million and they only gave $35 million back for the research money that was paid for by the taxpayer. And then down at the bottom it says the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said NIH spent another $484 million in research on Taxol through 2002. So the taxpayers paid for all of this research, but Squibb is making all the money and the taxpayer is getting nothing for it, except a shot in the jaw when they try to buy this product from another country where they can get it cheaper. It makes no sense to me.”