Sanders Blasts Big-Pharma Democrats Who Blocked Amendment To Lower Cost Of Prescription Drugs [Opinion]

After 13 Democrats voted against an amendment on Wednesday that would have lowered prescription drug prices in the U.S., Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has accused the Senate Democrats of lacking the courage to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry.

Introducing the amendment in a speech on the Senate floor, Sanders stated, “Year after year the same old takes place: the pharmaceutical industry makes more and more money and the American people pay higher and higher prices.”

Confirming the former Democratic presidential candidate’s statements regarding the high-cost of medication in the U.S., research by The International Federation of Health Plans shows that American citizens do indeed pay some of the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

Wednesday’s budget resolution, crafted by Sanders and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), sought to fix this problem. Designed to drive down medication costs by allowing cheaper, identical versions of prescription drugs to be imported from other highly regulated countries, the motion challenged the stranglehold that the pharmaceutical industry currently has on drug prices in the U.S.

Although the majority of Democrats, along with 12 Republicans, supported the measure to allow prescription drugs to be imported from countries like Canada and the United Kingdom (where the cost of medication is much lower than it is in America), the amendment ultimately failed by a vote of 46-52. Had the Democratic defectors also voted in favor of the measure, the amendment would have passed.

In an interview conducted on Thursday, Sanders expressed disappointment in his colleagues, but remained hopeful that they could be swayed to vote against the pharmaceutical industry in the future.

“The Democratic Party has got to make it very clear that they are prepared to stand up to powerful special interests like the pharmaceutical industry and like Wall Street, and they’re not going to win elections and they’re not going to be doing the right thing for the American people unless they have the guts to do that. That 13 Democrats did not is disappointing. I absolutely hope that in the coming weeks and months you’re going to see many of them develop the courage to stand up to Pharma.”

Facing public criticism for their betrayal, several of the Democratic senators claimed safety concerns were the reason they opposed the Klobuchar-Sanders amendment. However, many suspect that the Democrats’ refusal to support the measure was actually due to top-dollar campaign donations from the pharmaceutical industry. This speculation gained traction based on the fact that several of the dissenting Democrats were among those who had received the most funding from the pharmaceutical industry during their Senate campaigns, including Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bob Casey (D-PA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Patty Murray (D-WA), as was reported earlier for the Inquisitr.

“Booker received a massive sum of $329,000 from the pharmaceutical industry in his 2014 election bid, while Casey chalked up an extremely generous $258,030 in 2012. Murray and Bennet, who both ran in 2016, received $333,444 and $263,417 respectively.”

Adding fuel to the fire, an article for the Huffington Post pointed out another interesting connection. “There was a strong correlation between states where the drug industry is concentrated ? such as New Jersey, Washington, Pennsylvania and Delaware ? and Democratic opposition to Wednesday’s vote.”

Refuting that accusation, Democrats Robert Menendez (NJ), Cory Booker (NJ), and Tom Carper (DE) each issued statements yesterday saying that they have supported bills in the past that would allow for drug importation, and that safety concerns held them back in this case. That reasoning, however, doesn’t hold up very well to scrutiny, as importing prescription drugs safely can be easily accomplished, and Sanders himself is in full agreement that imported medicine should be regulated.

“If we can import vegetables and fish and poultry and beef from all corners of the Earth, please don’t tell me that we cannot bring in, from Canada and other major countries, name brand prescription drugs of some of the largest corporations in the world. That’s a laughable statement.”

Interestingly enough, the objections of the Democratic senators seem to eerily echo the concerns of America’s most influential prescription drug lobby, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA). In a statement for the Huffington Post, a PhRMA spokesperson explained their position.

“The importation of unapproved and potentially counterfeit medicines into the United States jeopardizes our secure medicine system and presents a serious risk to public health. Even Canada has said it would be unable to guarantee that U.S. citizens would receive products that are safe, effective and of high quality. Guaranteeing patient safety is crucial, and we must have policies that ensure patients safely have access to the medicines they need.”

Booker's excuse is simply not true. Canadian drugs made in same factories as US. pic.twitter.com/YFSOIauTAx

— David Dayen (@ddayen) January 12, 2017

However, this is far from the first time that PhRMA has concerned itself with the legalization of Canadian drug imports in the U.S. According to the Huffington Post article cited above, when challenged by PhRMA in a similar situation in 2003, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) reacted to the PhRMA pushback incredulously, saying, “Where are the dead Canadians? Show me the dead Canadians.”

Indeed, considering the fact that many of the medications currently distributed to Canada are made in the same factories by the same companies who also control America’s prescription drug market, the objections raised by PhRMA, and the Democratic senators, seem disingenuous at best.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=212754089194587&set=p.212754089194587&type=3

[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]