The price of a cancer drug increased more than ten times in two weeks, because Merck sold the rights to a different company. Ovation Pharmaceuticals says it needs big money to invest in manufacturing facilities, even though Merck still makes nitrogen mustard. That's just one example of the way drug prices drive up the cost of healthcare. America is the only developed country without any controls on drug prices and US consumers pay more than anyone else. Drug companies say the free market pays for research and development of drugs that benefit the entire world. Are doctors sold on more drugs than their patients need? Is the Medicare drug benefit making things better or worse? We talk to doctors, pharmaceutical consultants, consumer advocates, the healthcare industry and a former commissioner from the Food and Drug Administration.
- Making News: US Launches Largest Iraq Air Assault in Three Years
American forces, joined by Iraqi troops, today launched the biggest air assault since the US invasion three years ago. More than 1500 soldiers, 200 tactical vehicles and 50 aircraft are involved in "Operation Swarmer," which will continue for several days. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan adamantly defended that the attack was decided by military commanders in Iraq. We hear more from Babak Dehghanpisheh, who is in Baghdad for Newsweek magazine, and Donald Abenheim, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
'Operation Swarmer,' Armed Forces Information Service on
Today's White House press briefing
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor
The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor
On War by Carl von Clausewitz
Dehghanpisheh's article on beginning of 'Operation Swarmer'
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003
Medicare on prescription drug plan
Independent Drug Information Service
