Gilbert Gutknecht: “this issue about what Americans pay for prescription drugs is not a matter of right versus left, it is right versus…”

“this issue about what Americans pay for prescription drugs is not a matter of right versus left, it is right versus wrong. I think anybody who spends any time at all on this issue realizes it is wrong to force American consumers to pay the world's highest prices partly because we subsidize the research and development. There was a study done by the Boston Globe several years ago, and what they found was that of the 35 largest selling drugs in America, 32 of them were brought through the R&D channel by the Federal Government. The NIH paid for the basic research and development, got them to phase 3 trials. So we subsidize them in the research and development, we subsidize them in the Tax Code, and yet we are still required to pay the world's highest prices. Two years ago this Congress came together, the House and Senate, and we voted 304-101, I believe was the final vote, but it was over 300 votes in the House, and we said Americans ought to have access to world-class drugs at world-market prices. That bill passed. It is on the books right now.”