September 21, 2004

Drug council explains reports to lawmakers

By LAWRENCE MESSINA
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The pharmaceutical lobby asked lawmakers Tuesday to reconsider the recent findings of a state council assigned to find ways to lower prescription drug costs for West Virginians.

Several members of the joint interim committee assigned to the issue appeared receptive to concerns about the West Virginia Pharmaceutical Cost Management Council.

The council recommended earlier this month that the state replace an industry-run call center and Web site that offers information about drug price breaks. The state is supposed to take over the program, Rx for West Virginia, next year. Council Chairwoman Shana Phares told the interim select committee it would cost $834,000 a year to operate.

As an alternative, the council has endorsed a centralized pharmacy that would buy drugs in bulk from willing manufacturers at discount prices. The proposal is based on programs in Maryland, which has five cooperating drug makers, and South Carolina, which has eight.

Phares said the pharmacy would cost $1 million to start but only $625,000 annually to operate.

The council drew the Rx for West Virginia estimate from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. A PhRMA lobbyist told lawmakers the program could end up costing less because of expected declines in calls to the center and lower Web site costs.

"There may be ways of reducing that cost, though that has not occurred yet,'' Phil Reale said.

Reale also questioned the central pharmacy cost estimate.

"You're still probably going to have some need for a clearinghouse of some sort,'' Reale said. "That may be something that brand name drug companies may want to assist with.''

Delegate Mike Hall, R-Putnam, asked for Reale to address the committee. Hall noted the Legislature, and not the council, would have the final say on the state's prescription drug measures.

Delegate Larry Border, R-Wood, asked if the statewide pharmacy would need only seven staffers to assist its pharmacists, as the council estimated.

"I'm concerned about those numbers,'' said Border, a pharmacist. "I use as many as three or four technicians at a time, and a busy day for me is 300 to 400 prescriptions.''

Border also asked whether the council considered safeguards for the handling of narcotics, and to prevent the mixing of drugs from both it and retail outlets.

"I don't know that they're not insurmountable, but I have concerns about this,'' Border said.

Phares said any problems are "not insurmountable, because two other states have done this.''

The Legislature created the council this year in a bill (HB4084) to address rising drug costs. West Virginians spent 3 percent of their total income on prescription drugs in 2002 while the national average was 1.9 percent. The Kiser Family Foundation has said West Virginians annually fill 15.5 prescriptions per capita compared to a national average of 10.8.

The council has issued several reports to lawmakers. The next is due Oct. 15.

Most recently, it recommended West Virginia use the Federal Supply Schedule, a list of drug prices the Veterans Administration has negotiated with drug companies. That list now applies only to drugs purchased by the VA and certain Department of Defense workers.