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INDUSTRY NEWS
The pharmaceutical industry is, by far, the most profitable industry in the world. 12 Pharmaceutical companies in the Fortune 500 made 10 billion MORE than the top 24 motor vehicle companies last year. Their profit-to-revenue ratio is 18.9%, a number that is inconceivable in any other U.S. industry.
WHY?
The USA is the ONLY established country that does not have price controls on its prescription drugs.
DRUG WORLD PRESCRIPTION PRICES
The pharmaceutical industry doesn't want you to buy your drugs anywhere but the United States. We now understand why. If you owned two coffee shops and one sold a cup for $.57 and the other sold it for $1.00, wouldn't you want people to use the more expensive coffee shop? Absolutely!
Pharmaceutical companies have put multi-million-dollar ad campaigns together to fight efforts that reduce prescription drug prices for seniors. They claim that their research and development (R&D) will suffer if prescription prices fall. Lets take a look -
1984 - Hatch-Waxman Act - This enabled generic drugs to be sold to help reduce the cost of prescriptions. The pharmaceutical industry said that this would dramatically effect their R&D budget for new medicines.
FACT: R&D went from $4.1 billion to $8.4 billion in the next five years
1990 - Medicaid Drug Rebate - The pharmaceutical industry said that this would dramatically effect their R&D budget for new medicines.
FACT: R&D went from $8.4 billion to $18.9 billion in 1997
2001 - On April 4, Senator Johnson introduced S. 699, the Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act of 2001. This bill will protect senior citizens and disabled individuals from drug price discrimination and make prescription drugs available to Medicare beneficiaries at substantially reduced prices. S. 699 achieves these goals by allowing pharmacies that serve Medicare beneficiaries to purchase prescription drugs at the drugs' low "average foreign price." Under the bill, the "average foreign price" means the average price that the manufacturer realizes on drugs sold in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Estimated to reduce prescription drug prices for seniors by over 40%, this bill will help those seniors and disabled individuals who often times have to make devastating choices between buying food or medications. The pharmaceutical industry said that this would dramatically affect their R&D budget for new medicines. I think the only affect is in their massive profit margins.
The pharmaceutical industry has many high-powered lobbyists that are fighting to keep away price controls on prescription drugs in the United States. Hopefully our House of Representatives and Senate Leadership will look away from "BIG MONEY INTEREST" and stand up for the vast majority of Americans that take prescription drugs everyday.
DiscountSeniorDrugs.Com
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