Congress Taking Aim At Pharma Marketing & Biotech Drug Pricing
With all of the news about Walter Reed, you may have missed some other health-related Congressional action that has been brewing over the past few weeks.
First, Congress has responded to news reports about drug eluting 
stents and Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa by launching probes into how these and other medications are marketed and researched. Rep. Henry Waxman sent letters to several companies requesting information about these issues earlier this week.
Second, the drive for generic biologics is proceeding apace and the former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, Mark McClellan, is bullish on this new trend. In an article I wrote on HealthCareVox, I said that the growing furor over expensive biologics may damage the otherwise stellar reputation of the biotech industry. BIO, the industry trade group, is lobbying Congress hard to shape legislation favorable to its members, but if McClellan is correct, we should see a bill (written by Waxman) debated sometime this year. However, McClellan warns that before passing a bill, Congress must address concerns about potential adverse events and other safety problems caused by biogenerics that are not manufactured properly.
Clearly, recent events indicate that Congress is taking aim at two issues critics of the biotech and pharma industries have longed complained about. The off-label marketing investigation may cause pharma’s communications departments to become even more risk adverse and conservative than they already are. Depending on how biotech companies respond to the push for generic biologics, we could see a spate of negative media coverage or none at all.
It will be interesting to see how the Democratic Congress continues to flex its (healthcare related) muscles in the future.
