Gilbert Gutknecht: “I have come to the well of this House many times in the evening and in the day to talk about the high cost of…”

“I have come to the well of this House many times in the evening and in the day to talk about the high cost of prescription drugs and how much Americans pay for drugs relative to the rest of the industrialized world. I believe it is a crime, and I believe it is shame on us. I always say it is not shame on the pharmaceutical companies, it is shame on us, because the FDA and the Justice Department work for us. I have been regularly vocal and very critical of our FDA and what they have done in terms of, quote, protecting the public health. I have repeatedly said that a drug you cannot afford is neither safe nor effective. Tonight, Madam Speaker, I come to the floor of the House to offer some congratulations, because if you are going to hand out the thorns, I think once in a while you have to hand out the roses. First, I would like to congratulate the people at the FDA because today there was a conference held in Bethesda, and they were participants in that conference. What they talked about was new technologies to make our drug supply safer, so that whether you buy your drugs from Manhattan or Munich, you will be able to get safe drugs.”