Letters: Feb. 23, 2004

WHY DRUGS COST SO MUCH

"Your article on why U.S. drug prices are so high should have come with a warning label: MAY CAUSE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE." BOB HENSLER North Ogden, Utah

After reading Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele's article on why we pay so much for drugs [Feb. 2], I was mad, damn mad! In my naivete, I thought our elected officials would look out for our welfare and well-being, but it seems the only people our elected officials are looking out for are the ones who can line their pockets. The failure to address excessive prices for drugs is outrageous and unacceptable. Americans need to do something--and fast. Our health and wallets are being held hostage by the pharmaceutical industry. PAT CICALESE Stoughton, Mass.

You reported that "in the annual Fortune 500 survey, the pharmaceutical industry topped the list of the most profitable industries, with a return of 17% on revenue." That 17% profit guarantees that new drugs will be in the pipeline when we need them. Can any other system, including government-run labs, produce such a cornucopia of lifesaving and life-enhancing cures at any price? Studies have shown that it costs $800 million to create a new drug and get it through FDA approval. Your story promoted Soviet-style price controls. Remove incentives, and you will get Soviet-style results and products. As a practicing physician and surgeon, I'll take a capitalist drug company for my patients every time. CHRISTOPHER LYON, M.D. Newport Beach, Calif.

The arrogance, greed and lack of social conscience of the CEOs of big pharmaceutical firms are comparable to those of tobacco-company executives in the recent past. Eventually the drug companies' CEOs will get their comeuppance too. JOHN MITCHEM San Jose, Calif.

I am a mother of three who has been disabled by multiple sclerosis, a disease without a cure. Most of the medical help I've received over the past 17 years has come from advances achieved by the drug industry. For those of us who are ill, disabled or just plain old, it is the drug companies that offer genuine hope. And it is hard to put a price on hope. MIMI AMBROSE SMITH Annandale, Va.

How much could the costs of medicines be reduced if the drug companies stopped spending millions on those ridiculous TV ads aimed at consumers? Shouldn't doctors decide what drugs their patients should take, not the drug companies or the consumers? SANDRA CLARK Scottsdale, Ariz.

The pharmaceutical industry is justifiably controlled by numerous regulatory agencies at every stage, from research and development to clinical trials. There is no margin for error, since medicines have to be absolutely risk free. Any risk-free product must have a proportionately high price tag, as it is difficult to assign a value to a human life. KRISHNA SUBRAMANIAN Portage, Mich.

If consumers aren't allowed to import cheaper drugs, then U.S. companies should not be allowed to outsource our jobs to cheaper labor markets. CHARLIE SPRATT Charlotte, N.C.