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Almost heaven? The pharmaceutical lobby is taking its fight to the states. But in West Virginia, they fought back.

Article Excerpt
IN APRIL 2004, SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE WEST VIRGINIA House of Delegates flew to Minnesota to speak at a national meeting of the Council of State Governments. The legislators were eager for support from other states to bolster their ongoing effort to force drug companies to lower prices.

Specifically, the West Virginia delegation wanted the council to include its legislation, designed to pressure drug companies to lower prices for state employees and other residents, in the forthcoming book Suggested State Legislation, an annual publication that highlights laws considered innovative and worthy of review. On day one, the West Virginia lawmakers were sent before the group's Health Capacity Task Force, which makes recommendations on which health laws to include in the book. Looking around the room, West Virginia officials were shocked to find that of the 23 members present, only eight were legislators and seven were drug-industry employees. And of the 17 guests who were not representing either the council or West Virginia, nine were drug-company lobbyists. The committee refused to recommend the state's law for inclusion.

Still, the West Virginia legislators were optimistic that they would get support the next day when they went directly before the panel with the final say, the Committee on Suggested State Legislation, which is composed solely of legislators. As they entered the meeting room, they saw 20 members of the committee together at a table. Behind them sat rows of well-dressed onlookers. The panel leaders asked the audience members to introduce themselves. As they did so, West Virginia Delegate Don Perdue, there to speak about the legislation he helped draft, winced. Seated behind the legislative panelists were 21 lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry. "You know you don't have a chance," one panelist whispered to Perdue, just in case he had missed what was painfully obvious. Once again the West Virginia law was rejected for the council's book.

The drug industry's determination to block West Virginia from getting wider state support illustrates how intent it is on fighting every effort to limit its revenues. Fearful that any state's success in containing costs might rapidly be adopted by others, the industry tries to squash significant proposals quickly. Especially over the last four years, the industry has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to prevent any significant cost-control measures from passing, hoping it can bar precedents that might spread to other states or even to the federal level, resulting in drastic cuts in profits. These efforts are likely to intensify as states are facing both local fiscal pressures and the recognition that the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress are not likely to impose measures that would impinge on the profits of their pharmaceutical allies.

Beginning in 2001, as the economy worsened and tax revenues slowed, state budget crises deepened. At the same time, increasing enrollment led...