I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4869

To amend the Clayton Act to protect American consumers from foreign

drug price discrimination.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 18, 2000

Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Clayton Act to protect American consumers

from foreign drug price discrimination.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prescription Drug

5 Fairness Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) It is difficult for some Americans, particu9 larly senior citizens, to afford the prescription drugs

10 they need to stay healthy;
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1 (2) many American seniors cross the border to

2 Canada or Mexico to buy prescription drugs devel3 oped, manufactured, and approved in the United

4 States at lower prices than the same drugs are avail5 able for in the United States;

6 (3) according to the General Accounting Office,

7 American consumers pay on average 43 percent

8 more for prescription drugs than Canadian con9 sumers;

10 (4) forty-five percent of the new drugs devel11 oped in the last 25 years were developed in the

12 United States;

13 (5) other countries should pay a fair share of

14 the cost of research and development of new drugs

15 that benefit everyone, not just Americans; and

16 (6) since 1936 the Clayton Act, as amended by

17 the Act commonly known as the Robinson-Patman

18 Antidiscrimination Act, has prohibited price dis19 crimination among like buyers in the United States,

20 and has established as a legal norm the concept of

21 fair dealing in pricing. These same principles of fair

22 dealing should be applied to prescription drug sales

23 to wholesalers in foreign countries.
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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE CLAYTON ACT.

2 (a) PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICING.—Section 2 of the

3 Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 13)) is amended by adding at the

4 end the following:

5 ‘‘(g)(1) For purposes of enforcing subsection (a), the

6 sale of a prescription drug by a manufacturer outside the

7 United States shall be deemed to be the sale of that pre8 scription drug within the United States, and discrimina9 tion in price between wholesalers within the United States,

10 and wholesalers outside the United States shall be deemed

11 substantially to injure, destroy, or prevent competition

12 with any person who either grants or knowingly receives

13 the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of

14 either of them.

15 ‘‘(2) In this subsection:

16 ‘‘(A) The term ‘manufacturer’ means any per17 son, including any affiliate of that person, that is en18 gaged in—

19 ‘‘(i) the production, preparation, propaga20 tion, compounding, conversion, or processing of

21 prescription drugs, either directly or indirectly

22 by extraction from substances of natural origin,

23 or independently by means of chemical syn24 thesis, or by a combination of extraction and

25 chemical synthesis; or
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1 ‘‘(ii) in the packaging, repackaging, label2 ing, relabeling, or distribution of prescription

3 drugs.

4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘prescription drug’ means a

5 drug—

6 ‘‘(i) that is described in section 503(b)(1)

7 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

8 (21 U.S.C. 353 (b)(1)); and

9 ‘‘(ii) for which an application has been ap10 proved under section 505 of the Federal Food,

11 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355), or as

12 applicable, under section 351 of the Public

13 Health Service Act (942 U.S.C. 262).’’.

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect

15 180 days after the date of enactment of this section.

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