Gorton introduces drug price control bill

Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would limit U.S. drug prices to those charged in countries that impose price controls. Gorton's bill, the Prescription Drug Fairness Act, would apply a 60-year-old antitrust law, the Robinson-Patman Act, that prohibits discriminatory pricing in interstate commerce to international trade in pharmaceuticals.

Gorton told reporters that he is seeking to prevent consumers in other countries from getting a "free ride" from U.S. investment in R&D. "It seems to me fundamentally and overwhelmingly unfair that Americans should pay more at the cash register for drugs than the citizens of almost any other country. There is one overwhelming reason for this price disparity. Drug companies, obviously and logically, need to recover the cost of research and development for drugs. But they impose all of those costs, or almost all of those costs on American citizens and sell those drugs across our borders for simply the marginal price of manufacturing additional numbers of pills and a very small profit," Gorton said. ...