Today, a 60-day supply of Cipro, the anthrax-fighting antibiotic made by Bayer, would cost you just under $700. A 60-day supply of generic ciprofloxacin would cost you only about $20 overseas, according to Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR), the only pharmacist in Congress. But you can’t buy generic Cipro in the U.S. until 2003, when Bayer’s exclusive patent expires, and the Bush Administration has made clear in recent days that it has no intention of invoking its power to override the company’s
monopoly. In India, a 500 mg tablet of ciprofloxacin sells for about five rupees, or ten cents. Here, Bayer’s wholesale price is $4.67 a pill. As a bulk purchaser, the U.S. government pays Bayer a “best price” of $1.83. In Canada, the same pill costs $1.25.
Shocked at the differences? You shouldn’t be. In 2000, the ten biggest pharmaceutical companies made $27 billion in profits, once again making the industry the most profitable in the country. Americans pay anywhere from 30 to 50 percent more for prescription drugs than do their counterparts in Europe, Canada and Mexico.
Most countries have laws preventing price gouging by drug makers. Meanwhile here in America not only are the pharmaceutical companies allowed to charge as much as the market will bear no matter what crisis the nation may be facing, federal law also protects them from competition from cheaper products sold overseas. We can import as much beef, beer, wine and cheese as we like, but under current law the FDA will not allow Americans to import anything more than a 90-day supply of medications for personal use only.
On July 12, 2001, the House of Representatives debated and voted on an amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill sponsored by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Berry that would have allowed American wholesalers and pharmacies to import FDA-approved American-made drugs that are sold overseas. Given the price differential, such a change could save American consumers $30 billion a year or more. Their amendment was supported by a coalition of consumer and health groups, with a few unions signing on as well. After a hurried one-hour of debate, it was defeated 269 to 157. Members who voted to protect the pharmaceutical industry from competition received, on average, over three times as much in campaign contributions from that lobby in 1999-2000, than did members who voted the other way--$9,000 to $2,800. The industry doubled its giving between 1996 and 2000 to more than $26 million, with two-thirds going to Republicans.
Now that there’s an emergency demand for Cipro, Bayer is fighting the efforts of other companies who want to supply generic versions of it. While it has stepped up its own production of the drug, it will take Bayer 20 months, working 24 hours a day, to meet the U.S. government’s target of a 60-day supply for 12 million people. Five generics makers that have preliminary approval to make Cipro once Bayer’s patent expires say they could jointly reach that total in three months.
In Canada, the government has decided to override Bayer’s Cipro patent, citing a national emergency. But so far, Bayer doesn’t have to worry about the Bush Administration taking a similar step. As the New York Times reported, “Two of the president's cabinet members are former drug company executives. Mitch Daniels, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, was a top executive at Eli Lilly, while Donald H. Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, ran Searle, now Pharmacia, from 1977 to 1985.” More recently Rumsfeld also served on the board of Amylin Pharmaceuticals. President George W. Bush is the industry’s second favorite politician, receiving $472,333 from pharmaceuticals for his presidential campaign.
