Byron Dorgan: “Just to make the point: This is a drug called Zocor used to lower cholesterol. In fact, there is a football coach whom…”

“Just to make the point: This is a drug called Zocor used to lower cholesterol. In fact, there is a football coach whom you see on television almost every day in this country who talks about his heart problems. He had surgery, and now he takes Zocor for a healthier life. Zocor, likely, is a wonderful drug. You will see, it is sold in two different bottles. For this bottle, sold in the United States, it is $3.03 per tablet. If you buy it in Canada--the same drug, put in the same bottle, by the same company, FDA inspected--it is not $3.03, it is $1.12 per tablet. That is Zocor--nearly triple the price in the United States. Let me demonstrate another prescription drug and the pricing policies. This is Vioxx, used for arthritis. It is sold in identical bottles in the U.S. and Canada. It is an FDA-approved prescription drug. If you buy it in the United States, it costs $2.20 per tablet. If you buy it in Canada, it costs 78 cents per tablet. Why nearly three times the price in the United States for the U.S. consumer? Finally, if I might demonstrate one additional prescription drug, this is the prescription drug Paxil. It is used to treat depression. It is sold in identical bottles, made by the same company. It is the same tablet, produced by the same company. It costs $2.20 for the American consumer, 97 cents for the Canadian. These examples beg the question about pricing policy: Why does the U.S. consumer pay the highest price in the world?”