Byron Dorgan: “I have here bottles of 3 different prescription drugs that are ranked among the top 20 in the United States in the…”

“I have here bottles of 3 different prescription drugs that are ranked among the top 20 in the United States in the number of prescriptions filled and sales volume. All of these drugs, incidentally, are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. I have here the actual bottles for these medicines. This one happens to be Zoloft, which is used to treat depression. The company that produces these pills and puts them in different size bottles then sells them all around the world. It is exactly the same medicine produced by the same company, sold in different places. Buy it, for example, in Emerson, Canada, and you will pay $1.28 for a pill. Buy it 5 miles south of there in Pembina, ND, and you will not pay $1.28 for the same pill. Instead you will pay $2.34. It is the same pill in the same bottle, made by the same company in the same manufacturing plant. The only thing different is the price. The pill costs $1.28 in Canada, and $2.34 for an American consumer. Or what about Zocor? Zocor is a very popular prescription drug. Pick up any Newsweek or Time magazine and see the multipage ads for this drug. I have here two bottles of Zocor made by the same company, with the identical manufacturing process. One bottle is sent to Canada where it costs $1.82 per tablet; the other is sent to a U.S. consumer who is charged $3.82: $1.82 for someone living in Winnipeg, $3.82 for someone living in Montpelier.”