February 9, 2000
First lady blasts drug costs in U.S.
Wants to lift ban on importing cheaper medicine from Canada
By Kathleen Kenna
Toronto Star Washington Bureau
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Americans risk their lives and savings because they
can't afford the same drugs available in Canada at much lower prices,
Hillary Rodham Clinton charges.
In what is quickly becoming a major election issue in the United States,
Rodham Clinton yesterday blasted pharmaceutical giants for drug prices
so inflated that Americans must choose between bankruptcy or
treatment.
She indirectly praised Canada for saving sick Americans who can't afford
life-saving drugs and vowed to fight for laws lifting a ban on drug exports
from Canada.
``People in our country are paying the highest prices in the world for the
exact same drugs that others are finding at much lower prices across the
border in Canada,'' Rodham Clinton told a crowd of 400 at a research
hospital here.
``Every day, thousands of our citizens cross the border to buy drugs at a
fraction of the cost,'' she said. ``These drugs are made in the exact same
factories, factories most often owned by U.S. pharmaceutical companies.
The only difference is Americans are paying more in the retail cost than
the rest of the world pays in wholesale cost.''
Current U.S. law bans drug imports from other countries, even if they
cost less and are made by American-owned firms. Consumer groups have
made this an issue in the presidential campaign, recently taking busloads
of Americans into Canada to show how easy it is to get cheaper drugs.
``Prescription drugs are a necessity and yet they are priced as a luxury,''
Rodham Clinton said to loud applause. ``Their costs are rising at 12 per
cent a year, faster than any other part of our health-care system. While
our drug prices go through the roof, it's often the health of our most
vulnerable citizens that plummets.
``That's wrong . . . and it must stop,'' she told an audience comprised
mostly of health professionals and medical students.
Rodham Clinton, who formally launched her campaign for the U.S.
Senate on Sunday, said her year-long ``listening tour'' of New York state
was dominated by desperate stories of people unable to buy drugs that
would make the difference between ``sickness or health, life or death.''
``They tell me they are forced to choose between paying for drugs and
paying for food or rent or oil for heating and other lifelines,'' she said.
``Why are drug costs breaking the budgets, the hearts and the health of
so many Americans? Some of the reason, frankly, is advertising.''
``Big Pharm,'' as it's dubbed in the U.S., spends an estimated $1.8 billion
(U.S.) a year in advertising. As a result, the top 10 most advertised drugs
are responsible for 20 per cent of the increase in prescription drug
spending since 1993, Rodham Clinton said.
``We are the only industrialized nation in the world that permits
prescription drugs to be advertised directly to the consumer on TV and in
print.''
Two examples cited by Rodham Clinton included the new breast cancer
drug, Tamoxifen. A three-month supply in the U.S. costs $390,
compared to $50 (U.S.) in Canada. The allergy drug Claritin is $2 per pill
in the states but $1 in Canada.
Aides distributed a price chart in U.S. dollars showing a huge disparity in
the price of cross-border drugs:
The world's best-selling heartburn medicine, Prilosec, costs $3.30 (U.S.)
for one pill in America, compared to $1.47 in Canada. The
cholesterol-control drug Zocor is $3.16 for one tablet, but $1.47 in
Canada.
Rodham Clinton vowed to work for a law that would allow American
pharmacists, health-care institutions and distributors to import drugs
from Canada that are approved by the U.S. Drug Administration.
``You will never again have to choose between bankruptcy and health
when it comes to prescription drugs.''
Rodham Clinton was vilified in the U.S. during her husband's first term as
president because she led a mission to adopt Canadian-style health care.
Critics attacked her plan as too costly and socialistic.
There are 45 million Americans without health coverage, including 11
million children.
