Orrin Hatch: “I believe he is very sincere. I believe he is truly trying to represent the consumers in the best possible way. I just…”

“I believe he is very sincere. I believe he is truly trying to represent the consumers in the best possible way. I just believe he is ignoring some of these comments and statements made under oath before committees of the Senate that fly in the face of what is being said here. I would like to see drug prices reduced. There is no question about it. I worked hard to get them reduced. That is what Hatch-Waxman is all about. But there are two sides to that. One was drug price competition, to make sure we could get drugs in generic form immediately, once they come off patent, which we did. The other, of course, is the patent term restoration so that we could give innovator companies some restoration of patent life or market exclusivity so they could recoup the moneys, the extraordinary costs that are involved. I can say this: There have been some who have used this issue politically, and there is no doubt about it.”