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Senator asks drugmakers to explain prices

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A pharmacist looks through shelving to fill a prescription while working at a pharmacy in New York December 23, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

A pharmacist looks through shelving to fill a prescription while working at a pharmacy in New York December 23, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson

WASHINGTON | Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:41pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate Democrat asked top drugmakers on Wednesday to explain why Americans pay higher prices for prescription drugs than patients do in other developed nations.

Senator Herb Kohl, who chairs the Special Committee on Aging, sent letters to AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis

Kohl said Americans on average pay twice as much as people in other industrialized countries.

"While I firmly believe that drug quality should not be sacrificed for cost, the large discrepancies in the cost of identical drugs cannot be explained by differences in production or manufacturing," Kohl wrote in letters to the companies.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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Comments (4)
wildoaklane wrote:
What a stupid question. Drug companies are obliged by their share holders to make as much profit as possible.

Mar 17, 2010 12:58pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
wildoaklane wrote:
Make that “obligated to their shareholders.”

Mar 17, 2010 12:59pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
Story_Burn wrote:
So, they get monopolies on cancer drugs for a certain number of years….after enormous R&D costs…it’s called an Internal Rate of Return

Mar 17, 2010 1:19pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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