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Roundtable held on prescription drug prices

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Posted at 12:15 PM, Jun 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-18 06:35:10-04

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.-- On Monday, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel held a roundtable to address what many believe is the need to lower the price of prescription drugs.

Frankel met with several residents at the Lourdes-McKeen independent Assisted Living Facility who said they have been affected by high drug prices.

“We hear stories of seniors who actually have to cut their medication in half just to even take part of it during the day,” said Rep. Frankel.

Other seniors said they were not offered the option of choosing generic drugs.

According to the Food and Drug Administration a generic medicine is "created to be the same as an existing approved brand-name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, and performance characteristics."

Joining Frankel was Dr. Henry Bartos who said drug advertisers don’t tell the whole truth and he believes the federal research budget should be increased.

Dr. Brett Schillinger, a dermatologist from the Palm Beach County Medical Society, says he’s very frustrated because he's not able to help his patients properly. He said Medicare should be able to negotiate drug prices.