Bush announces generic drug plan

By Max Heuer

WASHINGTON, Oct 23, 2002--As New Hampshire's Senate race drew closer to Election Day, President Bush added to the campaign fodder this week by announcing a plan to speed generic drugs to the market.

"I think (Bush has) done the right thing," Rep. John Sununu, R-NH, his party's Senate candidate, said Wednesday. "I've always been very committed to protecting the integrity of the patent system." Sununu was referring to the fact that the proposal would close patent loopholes that effectively allow drug companies to renew their drug patents.

Colin Van Ostern, the press secretary to Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Sununu's Democratic opponent, said the Bush proposal was "a good first step" and accused Sununu of trying to block legislation in the House that would have solved the problem.

"The pharmaceutical industry has stalled (a generic drug bill) in the House, with John Sununu's help," Van Ostern said in a press release Wednesday, arguing that Sununu "should sign the discharge petition that would bring the issue up for a vote… but refuses to do so. "

Van Ostern also said that in 1999 Sununu co-sponsored legislation (H.R. 1598, the Claritin Patent Renewal Act) that "helped drug companies extend their patents on Claritin and seven other popular drugs, at a cost of consumers in the billions."

Sununu's press secretary, Julie Teer, responded that the Shaheen campaign was "deliberately distorting" Sununu's record. Under the bill, she said, only a court could award a drug manufacturer a patent extension. "The judge decides, not John Sununu," she said.

On whether Sununu would sign the discharge petition, Teer said the Shaheen campaign should "stop the partisan bickering" and blamed the Democratic Senate for wanting "an election-year issue" instead of "delivering results."

Sununu also counter-attaccked, charging Shaheen with failing to come up with a long-term plan to ease rising drug costs.

"Jeanne Shaheen has no plan to add a prescription drug plan to Medicare," Sununu said, adding that he thought his Democratic opponent's support for getting cheaper prescription drugs from Canada was not a long-term solution. "Putting seniors on a bus isn't the answer."

Van Ostern responded that the accusation that Shaheen had no prescription drug plan was "simply not true." Her plan, he said, includes reimportation of FDA-approved drugs from Canada, improvements in generic drug access and limits on drug companies' ability to deduct advertising costs from their taxes.

Sununu stressed that a Medicare prescription drug benefit is needed as a long-term solution.

Bush's proposal, announced just two weeks before the Nov. 5 elections, would limit name-brand pharmaceutical companies to a single 30-day window of protection when lawsuits on the drug are pending.

Some drug companies have filed litigation over and over, critics say, solely to delay the release of drugs to the generic market under the 30-day rule. Bush's proposal angered some in the Senate, which passed a bill in July that supporters said was a more comprehensive measure.

The removal of the loophole could introduce generic versions of popular brand-name drugs like Prilosec, Claritin, Zantac and Xanax, according to Lisa Swenson, the assistant director of health planning and Medicaid at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

New Hampshire's HHS currently pays $93 million a year for prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients. Generic drugs are 30 to 60 percent cheaper than their brand-name counterparts and are therapeutically equivalent, Swenson said in a phone interview Wednesday.

"We're very supportive of any initiative… (that) speeds generics (to the market)," Swenson said.

The state agency contracted with Virginia-based First Health Services Corp. last year to consult on the state's management of pharmacy programs, Swenson said.
This year, the agency also started a pharmaceutical and therapeutics advisory committee of in-state practicing physicians and pharmacists to look at potential initiatives, Swenson said.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a coalition of Northeastern legislators was pushing to set up a non-profit mail-order drug purchasing company that would allow consumers to pay Canadian prices for their drugs.

United Seniors Association (USA), a conservative activist group that has received funding from the drug industry's main lobbying group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), launched a TV ad campaign aimed at New Hampshire this week supporting Sununu's plan on prescription drugs.

USA chairman and chief executive Charles Jarvis lauded Sununu's votes in the House on pharmaceutical issues. In an interview, Jarvis also said that as head of USA, he takes donations from "anyone who agrees with me" on "unabashedly pro-market-based solutions." Jarvis added he thought the president was "trying to find the balance" between stunting research and lowering costs.

Sununu said that support from a group linked to the pharmaceutical industry did not affect his position on the generic drug issue and added that he has supported capping the patent loopholes for a long time. Sununu also said he supports allowing people to purchase prescription drugs from Canada provided the drugs are FDA-approved.

"I voiced my support for the patent legislation that came out of the Senate months ago," Sununu said. "As I said, I'm an engineer and believe very strongly that no one should misuse the patent system."

Published in The Manchester Union Leader, in New Hampshire.