Copyright 2000 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San
Francisco Chronicle
DECEMBER 25, 2000, MONDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. D4
LENGTH: 560 words
HEADLINE:
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON;
Washington Insider to Join Biotech Industry
Organization;
Drug price controls less likely with Bush, ex-Senate aide
says
SOURCE: BioWorld Today
BODY:
The election of George W. Bush will likely
lessen the possibility that Medicare prescription drug legislation will include
price-fixing measures, the Biotechnology Industry Organization's new vice
president for government relations said.
Lee Rawls, currently chief of
staff for Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., will begin work with BIO Jan. 22, two days
after the Bush inauguration. Rawls said the election of Bush "diminishes the
chances of some form of price fixing. They don't completely go away, but they
diminish."
Rawls will tackle some of the most important legislative
issues expected to face the industry next year, including revisions to the
Hatch-Waxman Act, the law that created the generic drug
industry and provided patent term restoration for delays at the FDA.
Other issues on the table, according to Rawls, are an anticipated FDA
reform bill and "some form of a tax bill, which is interesting because it tells
us how much our folks can make from their efforts."
Regardless of a
Congress split nearly down the middle, Rawls said his gut feeling is that a
Medicare prescription drug coverage bill will pass over the next two years,
adding, "What makes the difference is what the administration will sign at the
end of the day."
He also expects to see Congress debate a range of
bio-ethics issues, privacy and patient protection issues and likely a farm bill
involving the issue of genes and agriculture.
Carl Feldbaum, BIO
president, said if Bush is able to execute his promise of bipartisanship,
"there's a window of opportunity to get some positive legislation enacted before
things heat up for the mid-term elections."
Feldbaum said Rawls will
bring to the industry organization a reputation for working and winning across a
broad political spectrum. He said the organization "is reaching a whole new
orbital trajectory with the coming on board of Lee Rawls and Steve Lawton," who
joined BIO in July as vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel.
He said that another key personnel announcement may come in early January.
During the four years Rawls has served as Frist's chief of staff, the
senator became a recognized voice in scientific and health care issues by way of
the Frist-Breaux proposal to reform Medicare, legislation to double federal
medical research over the next decade, and the FDA Modernization Act of 1997.
It was Rawls' work with Frist, a cardiac surgeon, that helped form his
interest in biotechnology.
Rawls led the Frist legislative team on new
proposals, including the Women's Health Research Act, the Children's Health Act
of 2000, the Minority Health Disparities Research Act, the Global Aids and
Tuberculosis Act of 2000 and the Emerging Public Health Threats Research Act.
Before working for Frist, Rawls served as chief of staff to Sen. Pete
Domenici, R-N.M., during 1982-85. Domenici initiated federal funding for the
Human Genome Project. In President George Bush's administration, Rawls served as
assistant attorney general for legislative affairs for the U.S. Department of
Justice. He also has taught at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg,
Va., and served as a managing partner in the Washington law firm of Baker,
Worthington, Croissley, Stansberry & Woolf.This report was prepared by
BioWorld Today, the daily biotechnology newspaper (www.bioworld.com).
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Pharmacist Phil Grauss dispensed
prescriptions at Kaiser Permanente in Petaluma. Lee Rawls, the Biotechnology
Industry Organization's new vice president for government relations, said he
feels a Medicare prescription drug coverage bill will pass over the next two
years. /John O'Hara/The Chronicle 1999
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