Gilbert Gutknecht: “I think he used the word earlier and I think it is the critical word. He said that we are a captive market, and if we…”

“I think he used the word earlier and I think it is the critical word. He said that we are a captive market, and if we look around the world, whether it is beef and Japan or blue jeans in the former Soviet Union, anytime there is a captive market, what will happen is they will create an artificial price barrier which will guarantee that the consumers will pay outrageously higher prices, and that is what has happened here in the United States. The German pharmacist has the right to go anywhere within the European Union and buy this Tamoxifen where he can get it the cheapest for his consumers. That is part of the reason that Tamoxifen is $60 in Germany and $360 here in the United States. In fact, the companies are protected by our own FDA from any real competitive pressures which would help to keep prices down. And I do not say shame on the pharmaceutical industry; I say shame on us. They are only exploiting a market opportunity which our government has given them.”