Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402030157
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The study, which surveyed 77 frequently prescribed drugs sold in comparable form in the two countries, found that 66 cost more in the United States and 47 cost more than twice as much here. The manufacturer's U.S. list price for one birth control pill was more than 17 times the price in Britain, the report said.
"Beyond any doubt, the U.S. is substantially subsidizing low drug prices in the rest of the world," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the subcommittee on health and the environment, who asked the General Accounting Office to compile the report.
Waxman cited the findings as reason to support President Clinton's health-care proposals intended to restrain drug prices. Clinton's plan, for example, would allow the government to deny Medicare reimbursements for new drugs it considered too expensive.
Pharmaceutical industry officials said international price discrepancies reveal flaws in Britain's government-run health-care system, which pays for almost all of Britain's drugs, controls manufacturers' profit margins and restricts price increases.
"The British system is not paying its fair share of the worldwide cost of research" to develop new medications, said Robert Allnutt, executive vice president of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, an industry lobby.
The study focused on the segment of the U.S. wholesale market that pays full price - those drugs that end up being sold in retail pharmacies. But the GAO said it also found a substantial gap between British prices and the discounted rates at which manufacturers sell to many U.S. buyers, such as health maintenance organizations and mail-order firms.
by CNB