Healthy Skepticism Library item: 10862

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Publication type: news

Mantone J.
Big Pharma States Its Case
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog 2007 Jul 13
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/07/13/big-pharma-states-its-case/?mod=yahoo_hs

Full text:

The drug industry is stepping up its lobbying outside the Beltway, reports WSJ’s Sarah Rubenstein. Big Pharma lobbyists are finding they can garner support for their causes much more quickly in state legislatures than in Congress.

State legislation can move “from idea, to passage, to governor’s signature in 90 days, sometimes faster than that,” says Jan Faiks, who runs state policy for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the drug industry’s trade group. “So the action is in the states.”

Many state legislators are currently getting an earful from the Epilepsy Foundation. The nonprofit group is pushing for laws in several states that would make it more difficult to switch patients to inexpensive generic drugs. Usually, pharmacists can switch patients to generic drugs that the FDA deems equivalent to the brand-name drugs. Pharmacies often see larger profit margins on generics than on branded drugs, Rubenstein reports.

The foundation and its state affiliates receive funding from the epilepsy-drug makers. GlaxoSmithKline and Belgian drug maker UCB donated $500,000 to $999,999 each in fiscal 2006 to the national foundation, according to its annual report. Abbott Laboratories and a Johnson & Johnson unit each contributed $100,000 to $499,999. Representatives of four drug companies sit on the foundation’s board, as does PhRMA chief Billy Tauzin.

The foundation says switching epilepsy patients to generics can lead to seizures, but the FDA says it hasn’t seen the data that proves that claim. A clinical trial of this type would be difficult to run, says the foundation, and instead it’s pushing state-by-state for legislation that would require physician consent for a switch to be made.