Mexican pharmaceutical prices

Rep. Waxman (D-Calif.) is expected to use a report by Families USA at his upcoming drug price hearing. The report maintains that prescription drug prices are consistently much higher in the U.S. than in Mexico. Waxman is planning a hearing on two General Accounting Office studies he requested to compare U.S. prescription drug prices with those in Canada and in Europe. GAO's U.S.-Canadian price comparisons, released Oct. 21, found that identical products are priced an average 32% higher in the U.S. than in Canada ("The Pink Sheet" Oct. 26, p. 3). Entitled "Crossing to Mexico: Priced Out of American Health Care," the Families USA report states that "many Americans seek affordable health care in Mexico." For example, the report states that prices in Arizona, Texas and California pharmacies were more than four times higher for Zantac and Tagamet, about four times higher for Ceclor and more than three times higher for Cardizem than in pharmacies directly across the border.