Copyright 2000 The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus
Dispatch
October 19, 2000, Thursday
SECTION: EDITORIAL & COMMENT, Pg. 10A
LENGTH: 325 words
HEADLINE:
MEDICATION MUDDLE
BODY:
Suspicions have
swirled for some time that the pharmaceutical industry has been using strategies
to keep lower-cost generic drugs from being marketed.
Whether this is
true, of course, is of enormous importance to consumers. Less expensive generics
are marketed after the patent on a brand- name drug runs out.
So, the
Federal Trade Commission's plan to subpoena records to determine whether the
drug industry is doing what many suspect is welcome news.
Robert
Pitofsky, chairman of the commission, explained the agency's venture this way:
The study is meant to "ensure that the process of bringing new, low- cost
generic alternatives to the marketplace -- and into the hands of consumers -- is
not impeded in ways that are anti-competitive.''
The
Hatch-Waxman Act, passed by Congress in 1984, was supposed to
foster more competition among brand-name and generic drugs. Yet, the very
provisions aimed at increasing competition, ironically, may be impeding it. Last
month, two senators introduced legislation to counter these unintended
consequences.
The stakes are high for consumers. A study last year found
that from 1985 to 1997, consumers saved $ 112.5 billion by buying generic drugs.
Even so, drug companies significantly increased spending for research
and development during that time.
The study was conducted by Paul
MacAvoy, a Yale University economist who was a consultant to Presidents Ronald
Reagan and George Bush.
Pharmaceutical companies are granted patents on
their drugs to allow them to make a reasonable profit before the drugs can be
produced in generic form.
Anything that delays entry into the
marketplace of generic drugs extends the profitability of the predecessor drug
while reducing the accessibility of the drug. At a time when many older
Americans are struggling to pay for needed prescriptions, any interference with
the production of less-expensive generic drugs would be unconscionable.
LOAD-DATE: November 17, 2000 
