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The National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices (NLARx) met Friday January 28, 2005 in Washington, D.C. It was an exciting and jam-packed meeting with a soup-to-nuts, comprehensive agenda on legislative prescription drug initiatives around the country, including information on reimportation initiatives, litigation and legislation involving pharmacy benefit managers, consumer protection and price negotiation, and the latest developments on Capitol Hill.
The meeting ran from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm and was held at the District of Columbia?s John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Speakers and topics included:
- Dick Cauchi, Program Director, NCSL Health Program, will give a round-up on state initiatives with special emphasis on state use of the §340(B) program
- The latest on state programs reimporting prescription drugs from Canada, both web-based and bulk purchasing, as well as a report on the Vermont litigation challenging the FDA?s reimportation ban
- Status of efforts to overturn the reimportation ban in Congress and other federal activity
- State legislation requiring transparency and ethical standards for pharmacy benefit managers
- The Prescription Access Litigation Project, David Balto, Esq and D.C. Councilor David Catania, Esq. on litigation by PBMs challenging state laws and against PBMs by states, pharmacists, unions and others
- Peter Shumlin on the status of the nonprofit PBM
- Presentation by W. Virginia legislators on the implementation of the reference price law based on the federal supply schedule
- Presentation by Maine legislators on current status of MaineRx Plus and other state discount plans (DC, Hawaii)
- Gail Shearer and Rob Schneider of Consumers Union will present on the new Consumer Reports ?Best Buy? prescription drug initiative and state-based activities
- Peter Riggs and Jennifer Gerbasi of the Forum on Democracy & Trade and Georgetown University Law Center on the impact of free trade agreements on state PDLs and drug discount programs
- Prof. Kevin Outterson of University of West Virginia Law School on state use of patent law to reduce drug prices
- Maine Treasurer David Lemoine and Daniel Rosan, Program Director, Public Health and Access to Capital, The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility on shareholder resolutions as a strategy to reduce drug prices.
