Copyright 1999 Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles
Times
November 18, 1999, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: Business; Part C; Page 2; Financial Desk
LENGTH: 223 words
HEADLINE:
BRIEFLY / PHARMACEUTICALS;
SENATOR PULLS BILL FAVORING SCHERING-PLOUGH
BYLINE: Nick Anderson
BODY:
The chief Senate backer of a bill that
could help Schering-Plough Corp. win a lucrative patent
extension on a popular allergy drug abruptly withdrew the legislation
from a committee agenda amid a welter of negative publicity. The delay by Sen.
Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) meant that the company probably will have to wait
until the next session of Congress to press its case. The bill had been slated
for action in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Madison, N.J.-based
Schering-Plough has mounted a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign in recent
years for legislation that could aid its efforts to extend its patent on the
allergy-relief drug Claritin. The patent is scheduled to expire in 2002. At that
point, generic companies plan to jump into the market with cheaper versions of a
drug touted as an antihistamine without the sedative effects of other
medication. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said the bill is dead for the
year, noting that the pharmaceutical industry itself seemed divided on whether
to give Schering-Plough an opportunity to lock in what could be billions of
dollars of profit. Schering-Plough spokeswoman Denise Foy said she did not view
the delay as a setback for the legislation. "It's my understanding that they
held it over because they are running out of time" in this year's session, Foy
said.
LOAD-DATE: November 18, 1999
