E-DRUG: USA drug prices debate flares up
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[copied from PHARM-POLICY with thanks; WB]
http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/archive.htm#drugs
http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/drugs/lhdru066.htm
Nov. 10, 1999
Americans pay more for medicine
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Why does the world's best-selling drug, the heartburn medicine Prilosec,
cost $3.30 a pill in the United States but only $1.47 in Canada?
Why does the allergy drug Claritin cost almost $2 a pill in the United
States but only 41 cents in Great Britain and 48 cents in Australia?
Why does a year's supply of Rilutek, the only drug approved to treat Lou
Gehrig's disease, cost $9,000 in the United States but only $5,000 in
France?
Why does the United States have the highest drug prices in the world?
[snip]
http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/drugs/lhdru067.htm
Nov. 10, 1999
High prices force tough decisions
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Annie Ryman, a retired nurse in Bay City, Texas, won't shop for cheap
drugs in Mexico. Her doctor told her not to because some of her
medicines have very precise formulations. So she copes with the high
cost of prescription drugs by skimping on medicines. She cuts some pills
in half and ends up taking only half the prescribed dose.
[snip]
http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/drugs/lhdru068.htm
Nov. 10, 1999
Other countries set drug prices
The United States is the only developed country in which the government
doesn't control the prices of prescription drugs. How other countries
regulate prices:
[snip]
--
James Love, love@cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org
202.387.8030, fax 202.234.5176
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