Overview
Pharmaceutical companies make important life-saving medicines. But that shouldn't give them license to drive up drug prices, ignore the risks of harmful side effects, or block needed reforms in Oregon and in Congress. Consider:
• Pharmaceutical companies use direct-to-consumer ads to sell their latest, most expensive drugs. The industry claims that these ads help to educate consumers. But that doesn’t compute with the fact that a CALPIRG analysis of FDA records for the years 2001-2005 found that the ads for 150 different drugs were false or misleading.
• Merck, the manufacturer of Vioxx, continued to market its painkiller to doctors and patients years after the company had substantial evidence of increased the risk of heart problems. FDA researchers estimate that, in less than 5 years, Vioxx may have caused as many as 139,000 heart attacks and strokes.
• When Congress created the Medicare prescription drug benefit, the pharmaceutical industry and its lobbyists inserted a provision that prohibits the program from negotiating bulk-rate discounts for drugs.
• Consumers lacking drug coverage in Oregon area pay 61 percent more for common prescription drugs than what the drug companies charge the federal government for the same drugs, according to a 2006 report by OSPIRG.
OSPIRG is working to make sure Oregonians have access to safe and affordable prescription drugs, including:
• Requiring drug companies to fully disclose studies and information about the safety and effectiveness of their drugs.
• Improving FDA enforcement when pharmaceutical companies fail to conduct safety tests or mislead doctors and the public through their advertisements.
• Allowing Congress to negotiate drug discounts for the Medicare program.
• Promoting practices and programs that make drugs more affordable, such as the use of generic drugs, and the Oregon Prescription Drug Program, which negotiates lower prices for Oregonians lacking drug coverage.
Sign up for the Oregon Prescription Drug Program.
