The following is a statement released today by Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, at a forum on Capitol Hill regarding anticompetitive practices of the prescription drug industry:
"Numerous lawsuits have been filed across the country to force the drug industry to play fair in the marketplace. These lawsuits - brought by state attorneys general, the FTC, consumers, and third-party payers of health care - are aimed at stopping anticompetitive practices that have led to skyrocketing drug costs.
"Three types of lawsuits are being litigated and they seek to vindicate three important principles. First, do not violate antitrust and other anticompetitive laws by preventing more cost-effective generic drugs from coming to market. Second, do not misrepresent information about drug products by failing to give full or truthful information to America's consumers. Third, do not manipulate drug prices in a manner that results in huge costs for the Medicare and Medicaid programs and for the beneficiaries of those programs.
"Preventing and delaying generic drugs from coming to market needlessly increases costs for consumers including Medicare beneficiaries as well as third-party payers of health care. It improperly extends drug monopolies that enable the drug companies to profiteer at the expense of everyone else.
"The lawsuits being litigated are intended to make the pharmaceutical marketplace work for everyone. It is ironic that the drug industry goes to great lengths to prevent the regulation of prices in the name of promoting a free market. But, in doing so, it undermines competition, which is the hallmark of a free market."
For copies of the materials handed out at the forum please visit our website www.familiesusa.org. A webcasts of this forum will be made available by kaisernetwork.org, a free service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, after 5:00 pm ET on Monday, April 15. The webcasts, transcripts, and related resources can be found at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/familesusa/15apr02.
