How come it is not $386 or $240? How did you come up to $540?

it seems to me the American people at this particular moment in our history must make a very fundamental decision, and that decision is do we continue the status quo--which includes a 40-year decline of our middle class and a huge and…

One of the issues that Senator Burr and I are working on, which is a very terrible issue, is suicide rates and mental health issues among veterans.

I certainly believe that when you have a product that saves lives and eases suffering, you want to get it out as widely as possible.

Senator Burr raised some really interesting questions that I hope we will explore later on.

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on December 2, 2014, at 9:30 a.m. in room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The…

If we could snap our fingers today, how many folks are out there who could be treated with this new drug, if you would guess?

We have got to come up with an approach which encourages innovation, which rewards innovators, which lets them make good profits.

the current system is not just leading to immoral outcomes, it is ineffective at incentivizing R&D

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on December 2, 2014, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a…

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on December 2, 2014, at 2:30 p.m. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. COMMITTEE ON HEALTH…

I am upset that they have chosen not to be here.

I am just trying to get an overview here.

that is unacceptable, particularly in the circumstances where we are talking about a life-saving drug and the rationing is entirely avoidable.

the nature of a patent monopoly is the monopoly seller chooses the price.

I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on December 2, 2014, at 3 p.m. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Subcommittee on Water and…

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on December 2, 2014, at 2:15 p.m. in room SD- 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The PRESIDING…

So that we are clear on this: somebody in the United States who is not in the VA, not in Medicaid, has Hepatitis C.

We could do that in one way, which would be to say, we are just going to give Gilead as much money as we anticipate the company will make by the virtue of its patent monopoly.

Medical tourism has actually been a phenomenon for a while, but this is an extreme situation.

What is the moral implication of it? Are we comfortable as a nation with a product being available which can save human lives, but either individuals or government agencies are not able to afford that product the company is making…

The government says, look, these are the challenges that we face, the illnesses we want to deal with and you are going to come up with a product and make a lot of money, but then it is ours and we are going to distribute it in a…

this is a choice we are making. It is not determined by any objective reason, and to me, I think that is just unacceptable.

We need not seek a solution just for Sovaldi, but, really, systemic solutions.

The bill we are introducing will require generic drug companies to provide a rebate to Medicaid if their drug prices rise faster than inflation.