(On Feb 16, 2005, Dr Peter Rost testified before a Senate committee in support of U.S. reimportation of cheaper foreign drugs. Just who is this Dr. Peter Rost? Undoubtedly he is a man of courage – and one who also has spent 20 years marketing pharmaceuticals.)

Dr. Rost has extensive experience with drug reimportation and free markets; he once had responsibility for an entire European region. Rost is currently a vice president with Pfizer – the pharmaceutical giant that lobbies the U.S. government against drug importation; cuts off supplies to Canadian exporters; and subsidizes shadowy "front groups" that spread lies about importation. Undoubtedly Dr. Rost’s candor and honesty put his professional and economic future in jeopardy.

Both Pfizer and Dr. Rost assured the U.S. Senate committee that Dr. Rost’s views were his own - not that of Pfizer’s. In fact, Chuck Hardwick, Pfizer’s Senior Vice President Worldwide for Government & Public Affairs affirmed that, "Dr. Rost is not speaking on behalf of Pfizer… and…he has not participated in Pfizer’s active involvement in the government’s examination of this issue." (This Pfizer statement alone gives Dr. Rost’s testimony credibility.) Dr. Rost stated:

"If savings from importation were not significant, the (drug) industry would not be working so hard to block it...the only conceivable downside is that it (importation) might mean a reduction in profits for the pharmaceutical industry;

Many (Americans) don’t get the drugs they need because they can’t afford them… because drugs cost twice as much in the U.S. as in other countries;

Half of the large drug companies, including Roche, Glaxo, Novartis, Astra-Zeneca, and Sanofi-Aventis, are currently foreign corporations…why should we allow foreigners to come in and gouge American tax payers? …these foreign companies…take out big ads in American newspapers, and tell us that reimportation is not safe, while they know full well that it’s been done safely and cost-effectively in their own home markets, in Europe, for over twenty years;

Drugs coming from other countries may actually be safer than those made in the U.S. ("safety" concerns of the administration and drug cartel are bogus - imported drugs are nearly all from the same manufacturers who already provide drugs to US suppliers);

Every day, Americans die because they can’t afford life-saving drugs; because (the U.S. government) wants to protect the profits of foreign corporations…blocking reimportation has a high cost - not just in money, but in American lives."

Further, in a March 10, 2005, written response to additional questions from Chairman Michael B. Enzi of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Dr. Rost added:

1) "Americans would save $37.8 billion annually from legalized importation. (Average drug prices are 50% lower in Europe than in the U.S. (HHS report, figure 7.2.) ;

2) Any real drug importation bill needs to allow parallel trade not just with Canada but with other major industrialized nations, particularly the European Union. Restricting drug supply within Europe is illegal;

3) The Medicare drug benefit will (only) provide $1,000 for someone with a $4,000 drug bill. That person is still better off importing drugs."