Gilbert Gutknecht: “I think Members understand this issue, and it really is a choice between are you going to stand with your seniors who…”

“I think Members understand this issue, and it really is a choice between are you going to stand with your seniors who are having a difficult time affording their prescription drugs, or are you going to defend the FDA bureaucracy and the pharmaceutical industry. I think that really is the vote. At some point, if they vote, particularly if they change their vote this year, they are going to have to explain this chart to their constituents. They are going to have to explain why they should have to pay $30.12 for Glucophage in the United States when their European friends can buy it for $4.11. Let me just talk briefly, if I can, about the whole issue of safety because frankly, that is an area where our opponents have really focused in and there have been a lot of scare tactics, as the gentleman mentioned, running newspaper ads and radio ads and television ads. But the interesting thing is at least in my area, my seniors are a whole lot smarter than those ads, because most of the calls that are coming in are saying absolutely, this is the right way to go. They understand these price differences, they understand safety, they understand that they are willing to take a slight risk. The most important thing is when they go down to the local pharmacy, they might get the wrong medication. It might get in the wrong bottle. There is always some element of risk.”