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Why? Could you be a little more specific ? But before you do you should know, if you don't already, that Americans consume 42% of the world's prescription drugs and pay the world's highest prices. Americans also use twice the amount of drugs per person that Canadians do and that prescription drugs are not advertised in Canada. These are facts,

The average annual cost per prescription of the 50 drugs used most frequently by seniors as of January 2001: $956.00

Amount of seniors lacking drug coverage for at least part of each year: 47%

Chance that an American filing for bankruptcy last year did so because of medical expenses: 1 in 2

Percentage change last year in the profits of Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies: +35

Percentage change in the total profits of all Fortune 500 companies: –54

Mean after-tax profits for pharmaceutical companies in 2000: 18.6%

Mean after-tax profits for all other Fortune 500 companies combined: 4.9%

Amount prescription drug prices rose in between 1981 and 1999: 306%

Amount consumer price index (CPI) rose for the same time period: 99%

Amount pharmaceutical companies spend on profit: 18.6%

Amount pharmaceutical companies spend on marketing and administration: 30%

Amount pharmaceutical companies spend on research and development: 12%

Amount of new drug research and development sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal
agencies: 60%

Amount of new research the pharmaceutical industry is funding: 11%

Number of pharmaceutical lobbyists registered in Washington, DC: 600+

Number of U.S. Senators: 50

Number of U.S. Representatives: 435