"Bristol Myers-Squibb is getting rich by putting women's lives and health at risk, and Congress is letting this and other pharmaceutical giants get away with it," said National Organization for Women (NOW) President Patricia Ireland.  "Taxol, a life-sustaining drug desperately needed by thousands of women with breast and ovarian cancer and AIDS patients with Kaposi's Sarcoma, was developed with taxpayer dollars and is now being held hostage by corporate greed."

"Critically ill women, and Medicare and Medicaid programs, are paying double what they would for a generic version of the drug," Ireland said.  "NOW is calling on Congress to close loopholes in the current law that allow pharmaceutical companies to inflate prices on drugs and maintain a monopoly in the market.  And until Congress takes action, we will hold corporations like Bristol Myers-Squibb accountable for their unfair and outright dangerous business practices."

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