Senator asks drugmakers to explain prices

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 to the companies.

Some Democrats have attacked drugmakers as the U.S. Congress works on an overhaul of U.S. healthcare system.

The pharmaceutical industry has pledged to pay $80 billion over 10 years in price cuts and other concessions to help fund wider insurance coverage as part of a healthcare overhaul under consideration in Congress.

Some lawmakers have criticized that amount as a small price to pay for a $315 billion-a-year industry that stands to gain tens of millions of new customers if insurance coverage expands. Democrats are trying to pass a final bill for President Barack Obama to sign into law in the coming weeks.

Eli Lilly, responding to Kohl's letter, said drug prices were lower in other countries for various reasons including currency value, market dynamics or government price controls.

The United States "relies on competition rather than government-imposed price controls that contain costs" and U.S. patients "have the greatest access to the newest medicines," Lilly spokesman Ed Sagebiel said.

Pfizer spokeswoman Kristen Neese said the company "stands behind the value our innovative medicines bring to patients." The company provides free or discounted medicines to uninsured other needy patients, she said.

Novartis is reviewing the senator's request and will respond to the committee, a company spokeswoman said.

GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne said the company had no comment.

Officials at other companies had no immediate comment or could not immediately be reached.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Steve Orlofsky)