FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, July 11, 2002

CONTACT: Jennifer Laudano Kati Anderson (202) 628-3030

BUSH ADMINISTRATION BACKS PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY OVER THE NEEDS OF MILLIONS OF SENIOR CITIZENS

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, released the following statement today concerning the HHS report on prescription drugs and medical innovation:

"It is most unfortunate that the Bush Administration has decided to back the pharmaceutical lobby's search for greater profits rather than consumers'-and especially senior citizens'-needs for more affordable medicines. It is high time for the President to help the millions of people who can't pay for their prescriptions instead of being a cheerleader for the most profitable industry in America.

"The Bush Administration has been lured-hook, line, and sinker-by the pharmaceutical lobby's misleading claim that high drug prices are needed to sustain research and development (R&D). As a Families USA report will show next week, the industry spends much more on marketing, advertising, and administration than it spends on R&D. Moreover, throughout the last decade, pharmaceutical companies have been the most profitable industry by far of all industries in the U.S.

"The HHS report-which laments "the potentially serious consequences to medical innovation and overall health posed by attempts to contain drug expenditures by implementing government controls"-is a canard. No legislation is being considered to impose price controls. Rather, the current debate is about stopping the drug industry's anti-competitive practices that are designed to prevent generic drugs from coming to market. It is those anti-competitive practices that are artificially inflating drug prices throughout the country."

Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.