Political Quotes

“Again, I would like to commend the chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee for the outstanding work he has done in shepherding through the committee and now, hopefully, later today bring to the floor an act which will modernize and strengthen the FDA and will be to the real benefit of all Americans to make sure that health care services are given in an expeditious way to the American people. As I mentioned in my earlier comments in the Chamber, a central aspect of health care today is the dissemination of information to physicians, to health care providers so that both will know, understand and have access to and be able to use appropriately that information to serve their patients, the so-called off-label or extra-label provisions I introduced this morning, and I want to share once again my delight in the fact that in a bipartisan way, working with Senators Kennedy, Wyden, Boxer, Mack, myself, and the distinguished chairman, we have come together and worked with the administration and the FDA to address this very important issue of dissemination of information. As I mentioned, off-label uses are really prominent in health care today. The American Medical Association estimates the off-label or extra-label use of drugs that have already been approved by the FDA to be in the range of 40 percent to 60 percent of all prescriptions.”