Topeka — Pharmaceutical companies are putting Kansans at risk with high prices for prescription medicines, a senator told colleagues.
Republican Sen. Jim Barnett, an Emporia physician, told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday how his patients have been affected.
"My patients are proud people," Barnett said. "They come in and their blood pressure isn't controlled. I have to drag it out of them. They're not taking their medicines. They can't afford to."
Barnett has sponsored a resolution asking Congress to take action to lower the costs of prescription medicines. He opposes price controls but said they might become the only option.
Barnett said companies can lower costs by cutting advertising and promotions.
Nancy Zogleman, a spokeswoman for drug maker Pfizer Inc., acknowledged that such costs can get out of control. However, she said, prices are driven up by the costs of marketing a product, receiving patents and getting a drug approved by the federal government.
Zogleman said the way to keep prices under control is to reform Medicare, the federal program that funds medical services for the poor.
"It was developed four decades ago," she said. "Things have changed. Prescription drugs now keep people out of the hospital. They keep people out of the nursing homes."
Zogleman said Pfizer agrees that federal action needs to be taken.
Barnett said he has begun prescribing medicine that can be obtained in Canada for about half the cost in the United States. That hurts local pharmacists, he said, but he has no choice.
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