Interior, Environment, Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I want to visit with my colleagues for the same reason Senator Durbin, about 15 minutes ago, spoke to my colleagues about the high price of pharmaceutical drugs and maybe at least one little thing we can do to help moderate that price or at least inform the public, accordingly, in a better way than we have so far.

Every American within earshot of a television has heard ads for prescription drugs. Almost every night, as I watch television, I see something along that line. These ads promise patient relief from nearly every medical problem, and informing the public is important for us to do in many areas.

The pharmaceutical companies want you to know that their drug is on the market to help you. They want you to talk to your doctor about the newest drugs.

As many of my colleagues know, I am an outspoken supporter for transparency. I hope it is one of my attributes I bring to the U.S. Senate. From the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to whistleblower protections, I am a strong believer that transparency keeps citizens informed, and, for sure, transparency in government brings accountability from those of us in government.

Senator Durbin and I have amendments to the current funding bill which would shine transparency light on prescription drug prices. These amendments would allow patients and their doctors to make informed decisions. Drug advertisers want to tell consumers all the benefits of the drugs. At the same time, drug advertisers are required to tell you about the side effects. In fact, half of an ad has something about side effects. That is usually in the small print and when somebody is babbling something very rapidly about the side effects, but they aren't as gung-ho to show how much that particular drug would cost. I believe it is something the public would like to be well-informed on when they are considering the advertisement and the purposes of the drug.

Six billion dollars is what pharmaceutical companies spent on direct- to-consumer advertising last year. Why would they spend that amount of money on TV commercials? Because it works. By bypassing the trusted physician and the ability of patients to decide for themselves, TV ads increase prescription drug utilization and, with it, drug spending. This increases drug costs to patients and taxpayers. In one case, a single drug in Medicaid costs the taxpayers an additional $207 million just because of ads.

The President's blueprint to lower drug costs includes a provision for FDA to require the inclusion of the list price in these drugs. Senator Durbin and I agree on that. I hope, since it is in the President's blueprint as one step to bring the high cost of drugs, it would be easy to get bipartisan support for the Grassley-Durbin amendment. This is a very simple, commonsense step to get drug prices down for consumers.

I have to confess to you, it is not the only answer, but it is a concrete first step. If you want to know other steps to get drug prices down, I would point out enacting the CREATES legislation, introduced by Senators Leahy, Lee, Klobuchar, and this Senator; or we could enact Pay for Delay, introduced by Senator Klobuchar and this Senator; or Commissioner Gottlieb of FDA could come up with a plan for the importation of safe prescription drugs from Canada and other trusted countries.

Consumers today are promised the Sun, the Moon, and the stars if they will simply get a prescription filled. Senator Durbin and I want to improve transparency and prescription drug advertising so consumers can decide for themselves. Our amendments would simply clarify that the Secretary of HHS has the authority to require drug companies to report the list price on advertisements.

I had a telephone conversation this morning with that Secretary of HHS, at his instigation, and he suggested that this would be very helpful, not only for him to accomplish the goals he wants to but to carry out the President's blueprint. One of several steps in that blueprint is to get the price of pharmaceuticals down for the consumer.

Consumers know the price of every other item they purchase before they make their decision. Just think what a benefit it was to the consumers of this country when, maybe four decades ago, the Congress decided that we ought to have on the windows of a car what the cost of that car was so everybody had to play by the same rules of the game. This is a very simple free-market principle. I urge all of my colleagues to support this effort that will lower drug prices for all Americans.

Thank you.

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