Kucinich introduces legislation to lower drug costs

Kucinich Introduces Legislation To Lower The Price Of Prescription Drugs
HR 5155: The Fair Market Drug Act
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) today introduced legislation to lower the price of prescription drugs. Prior to flying to Washington to introduce the legislation in the House of Representatives, Kucinich gave the following remarks to seniors in Lakewood, Ohio about the bill:

“By now, its well known that drug costs are high and getting higher. It is also well known that the rising costs of drugs are a major contributor to the spiraling cost of health care more generally.

“But what’s less well known is that one of the main reasons that drug costs are so high is that drug companies get legal manufacturing monopolies through the patent system. When they get exclusive rights to manufacture a drug, they can do whatever they want with prices. And they often do. Drug markups are several hundred percent over market values and sometimes more. Meanwhile, some are deciding between their drugs and food or paying their bills. In many cases, people are selling their belongings, spending their retirement savings and going into bankruptcy to afford drugs they need to simply stay healthy. This is unjust and unsustainable, especially for Cleveland area’s elderly and poor who spend far more on drugs as a portion of their income than other age groups. No other country grants monopolies on drugs without concessions like price controls.

“Later today, I will introduce legislation that will lower the price of drugs for all Ohioans. The idea is simple: instead of giving a monopoly for every new drug, any qualified entity will be able to manufacture and distribute it. Competition will lower prices and allow greater access to prescription drugs for many people.

“How would it work? My bill would greatly increase funding for research and development of pharmaceuticals through the National Institutes of Health. The NIH would develop some research capacity in house and would fund other research at institutions like pharmaceutical companies, small biotech companies and universities. In exchange for accepting federal research dollars, all research findings would be made public and patents would be available to any company that wished to manufacture the drugs.

“The bill would not prevent anyone from getting a patent. But patented drugs developed with private funding would have to compete with drugs whose research and development was publicly funded, which would be difficult. The result would be that most drug research would be publicly funded.

“My bill also corrects another major problem with pharmaceuticals today: The pharmaceutical companies are getting less efficient. They are increasingly turning out drugs that are less important to public health because they’re not as profitable. For example, roughly 70% of new FDA approved drugs are copycats or “me too” drugs which are small variations on existing drugs, usually done to reduce R&D costs and extend the patent life of an existing drug. We should be focusing instead on breakthrough drugs that require more basic research but may not be as profitable. How many more Viagra knockoffs do we need? Our research priorities would be better decided by the world renowned NIH, which houses several Nobel Laureates.

“Another benefit of the bill lies in the disclosure requirement. Since research will have to be made public as it evolves, it will be more difficult to hide research that may show any adverse effects of a drug. We want to know about it before the drug goes to market, not after.

“Now, the opposition from this bill will come primarily from the pharmaceutical industry and it’s easy to see why. They have a lot to lose. In 2002, there were 10 pharmaceutical companies in the Fortune 500. According to a report (by Public Citizen), the combined profits of those 10 companies was more than the profits of the rest of the fortune 500 companies COMBINED. In the same year, they spent more than $91 million on lobbying. Marcia Angell, the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine writes in a recent article

"According to a report by the non-profit group Families USA, the former chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Charles A. Heimbold Jr., made $74,890,918 in 2001, not counting his $76,095,611 worth of unexercised stock options. The chairman of Wyeth made $40,521,011, exclusive of his $40,629,459 in stock options

“And that still doesn’t even the extravagant spending on marketing and advertising. Right now, when you pay for drugs, you’re also paying for all of this. Patents make it possible.

“The Free Market Drug Act is a bold bill that increases transparency, efficiency and, most importantly, lowers the price of prescription drugs. As it stands, pharmaceuticals are becoming increasingly out of reach. But the good people of Ohio not only deserve accessible pharmaceuticals, they need them. The Free Market Drug Act, already cosponsored by my colleagues John Conyers, Jose Serrano, Barbara Lee, Raul Grijalva and Major Owens, is a major step in the direction of fairly priced drugs for all.”