Letter: Hugely profitable drug companies are too powerful

Thursday, April 8, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

Here in Nevada, the casinos are major contributors to political campaigns and they literally call the shots on taxes and other legislation. At the 2003 Legislature, during a time when major tax increases were the big issue, casinos "accepted" an increase that raised their contribution to state taxes from 6.25 percent to 6.5 percent -- quite a concession when several local casino groups were at the same time actively competing for the chance to invest their Nevada profits in the last available Illinois casino license, where they knew they'd be taxed much higher.

At the national level, I suspect that the drug companies may play the parallel role to Nevada's casinos. Why else would they get away with the price gouging that is going on? They get away with charging Americans far more than they charge the Mexicans and the Canadians and, presumably, all other nations.

I just viewed a TV ad in which Galaxo-Smith-Kline is courting seniors to join a club through which they can buy prescriptions (but only G-S-K drugs) at 40 percent off. I strongly suspect that the entire drug industry could cut its prices by 40 percent or so -- and maybe 60 percent if they cut out political contributions -- and still be profitable.

They give us a story about the high cost of developing a drug, but I'm told that many of the drugs come from taxpayer-supported research at a federal agency called National Institutes of Health.

OWEN NELSON