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Bernie Sanders, Independent congressman from Vermont, challenges Congress to stand up to stop price gounging by the pharmaceutical industry, and he admonishes The Wall Street Journal for blithely accepting unacceptable corporate corrupt practices: “The culture of corporate greed and corruption is simply accepted, de facto.”
ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP) www.researchprotection.org
Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav 212-595-8974 FAX 212-595-9086 veracare@rcn.com
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As the first member of Congress to bring constituents across the Canadian border in order to save substantial sums on prescription drugs, and the lead sponsor of the reimportation bill in the House, I have serious problems with your editorial “Sure, Cheap Canadian Drugs.”
The simple truth is that Americans pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, while year after year major drug companies reap, by far, the highest profits of any industry. The time is long overdue for Congress to stand up to the hundreds of millions that the pharmaceutical industry spends on campaign contributions, lobbying and advertising and lower the cost of medicine for the American people.
How revealing that The Wall Street Journal, the tireless defender of free trade, blithely accepts that drug industry giants will stop at nothing in retaliation against a duly enacted piece of free trade legislation. The culture of corporate greed and corruption is simply accepted, de facto. It is no wonder the author predicts (with approval) retaliation via unfair trade practices, threats and refusal to make life-saving drugs available to those who need them abroad.
Despite this jaundiced embrace of drug giants’ tactics to preserve their obscene profit margins while millions of Americans needlessly suffer, there is good news. The Internet pharmacy business is booming, efficiently providing safe prescription drugs at a fraction of their U.S. cost every day. Seniors on 16 recent bus trips to Canada saved over $500,000 — an average of $1,340 per person — just by crossing the border to have their prescriptions filled. Most importantly, the American people are disgusted with the greed of the drug companies who prefer to provide their CEOs with exorbitant salaries and stock options, rather than address the crisis of outrageously high drug costs.
Change is coming. We are going to lower the cost of prescription drugs in this country, and provide a strong prescription drug benefit under Medicare.
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