Byron Dorgan: “The bottles are slightly different, one is bigger than the other, but Zocor is sold both in Canada and the United…”

“The bottles are slightly different, one is bigger than the other, but Zocor is sold both in Canada and the United States. Zocor is one of a number of cholesterol-lowering drugs. In fact, Dan Reeves, coach of the Atlanta Falcons, has an advertisement saying he takes a similar drug to lower his cholesterol following some heart problems he had. In any event, Zocor is an FDA-approved drug produced by the same company, often in the same FDA-approved plant. Yet, this bottle of Zocor is sold in Winnipeg, Canada, for $1.82 per caplet. But if you are an American who is using Zocor to lower your cholesterol, you pay $3.82 per tablet. Again, if you buy it in Canada, it is $1.82 per tablet. But in the United States, the same tablet, by the same company, is not $1.82, but $3.82. The Senate just finished yesterday a debate about normal trade relations. This used to be called most-favored-nation status. Do you know what the situation is with respect to prescription drug prices? We have least-favored-customer status for the American consumer. Why do I say this? Because prescription drug prices here are higher than anywhere else in the world. Why should the American consumer pay prices that are 10 times, or 5 times, or triple or double the price paid by everyone else in the world for the same prescription drugs made in the same plants by the same companies? The answer is that U.S. consumers should not be least favored consumers as they are forced to be by the pharmaceutical drug industry.”