On the recordFebruary 10, 2011
I am proud to introduce the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2011. I am enormously grateful to partner with Senator Stabenow in this endeavor and to have the support of 17 additional bipartisan cosponsors. I also want to salute former Senator Byron Dorgan, who was such a tremendous ally on this issue for nearly a decade. During health reform, I was disappointed with the $80 billion deal struck by the drug industry in exchange for supporting the legislation. Make no mistake--this is hardly a generous offer from the industry. Consider the fact that last August, a report issued by AARP on retail prices of brand-name drugs showed that the 217 products most used by older Americans increased by an average of 8.3 percent during 2009, even as inflation was negative. So in other words, we have the industry setting a new pricing baseline that is entirely off kilter with the rest of the economy . . . widely unaffordable for the American people . . . and clearly unsustainable for the future. Negotiating concessions is no substitute for instilling market competition--which is exactly what this legislation will do. It is unconscionable that more and more individuals are forced to skip doses or split pills as prices increase while our economy contracts. Today our bill could already be providing the access that Americans deserve to the more affordable drug prices available in other industrialized nations.
