Editorial: Consumers over lobbyists

Monday, Nov. 19, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

Legislation that would get generic prescription drugs on the market more quickly has been stalled in Congress for about three years.

The Associated Press, in a report released last week, linked the stall to the millions of dollars drug companies spend lobbying senators and representatives.

Federal law does not require companies to itemize their lobbying expenses, so the specific amounts being spent to keep the generics bill from advancing cannot be known.

But nevertheless AP reported that "major lobbying" by the drug industry is responsible for the legislation's failure to advance. The news service reviewed records of congressional lobbying filed by pharmaceutical companies and found $38.8 million was spent from July 1, 2006, through June 30.

Brand-name prescription drugs protected from competition by patents can net billions of dollars for their manufacturers. The money machine slows considerably, however, after the patent expires and the much less expensive generic equivalents come onto the market.

This patent system began as a reasonable arrangement. Drug companies that have invested big money in research and development get a set period to exclusively market their blockbuster brands to recover costs and earn a profit.

After the patents come off other laboratories can compete by marketing the drugs' exact active ingredients under generic labels. Consumers can save 30 percent to 80 percent by buying generics.

But this system has gone haywire. In 1984 Congress passed a bill authorizing generic companies to challenge patents before they expire. This consumer friendly sounding bill, though, has backfired.

Today, the challenges by generic companies are resulting in settlements with the brand-name companies. The generic makers are taking cash and marketing deals in exchange for holding off indefinitely on introducing products. The deals have been challenged by consumer groups, but federal courts have ruled they are legal.

Both the Senate and House have bills that would end this charade. But as the Senate bill's sponsor, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., told AP, "Lobbyists have a lot of influence in Washington."

Congress needs to break free of the lobbyists who are against these bills and vote on behalf of the millions of consumers who would benefit from earlier releases of generic drugs.