Byron Dorgan: “The point is this: We are told that the pricing strategy by which Americans are charged the highest prices is fair and…”

“The point is this: We are told that the pricing strategy by which Americans are charged the highest prices is fair and is necessary--fair because it is the only way we will get the R&D, and it is necessary because nobody else will pay those prices. So we need to accumulate that cash from the American consumer in order to pay for the R&D. There are a couple things wrong with that. One, we spend a substantial amount of taxpayers' money at the National Institutes of Health. We have gone from $12 billion to $24 billion. I supported that. It was bipartisan in the Senate. We doubled the amount of money for the National Institutes of Health for health and research, and the pharmaceutical industry benefits from that as well because they take that accumulated research and use it to create new and miracle medicine. Yes, they do research as well, and I commend them for that. My point is, we do a lot in public policy, such as research at the NIH.”