Tom Coburn: “I think a couple of points are important. Number one is when we get a drug in this country, we do not know where it is…”

“I think a couple of points are important. Number one is when we get a drug in this country, we do not know where it is made, because a large portion of our drugs in this country are made in Europe, made in South America, made in Puerto Rico, in FDA-approved facilities. They have to meet that standard. That is number one. Will there be an accident? Sure, there will be. I will not deny that there will be a mistake made in filling a prescription just like there is every day in this country as well. However, I would challenge the ranking member on this committee, how many people are not getting the medicines they needed to because they cannot afford to get them, and if we allow competition to resume, which this is just one way of doing it, whom of them will markedly benefit their health, their quality of life? People's lives are being shortened today because of the abnormally high and ridiculously increased prices of many pharmaceuticals out there. Can we assure 100 percent safety? No. The FDA cannot now. As a matter of fact, what they do is they look at drugs and say, are they safe enough? There is not any drug that is absolutely safe. Aspirin is not absolutely safe. But are we going to markedly increase the risk for Americans with this? Absolutely not. The FDA knows those facilities.”