Published in Pawtucket Times on June, 2, 2002

In conjunction with seniors advocates lobbying Congress for Medicare prescription drug benefits and state legislatures for financial relief in paying for the spiraling costs of pharmaceuticals, the AARP and other aging groups, along with state attorney generals, are going to court to put the brakes on spiraling prescription drug costs.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, called for pharmaceutical companies to not delay generic drugs from coming quickly to market during an April forum on Capitol Hill, which was held to spotlight the anti-competitive practices of the prescription drug industry.

Delaying or preventing the widespread use of generic drugs endlessly increases costs for consumers, including Medicare beneficiaries as well as  third-party payers of health care, Pollack stated.

“It improperly extends drug monopolies that enables the drug companies to profit at the expense of everyone else,” he said.

The lawsuits bring litigated are intended to make the pharmaceutical marketplace work for everyone,” Pollack said, noting that it was ironic that the drug industry goes to great lengths to prevent the regulation of prices in the name of promoting a free market.

Legal initiatives are now a part of a broad AARP drive to reduce high drug costs that hit seniors hard in their pocketbooks. Washington’s largest aging advocacy group is ratcheting up its efforts to lower drug costs by joining three important cases against prescription drug manufacturers that have blocked the availability of lower-priced generic equivalents.

AARP CEO Bill Novelli has announced that his group’s attorneys will serve as co-counsel in three lawsuits that involve charges of patent abuse, suppression of generic competition and collusive agreements with generic manufacturers.

“Geriatric drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at equivalents give consumers quality drug alternatives at reasonable prices,” Novelli said today. “Our aim is to help people get affordable access to the drugs they need.”

The lawsuits mark the first time that AARP attorneys will co-counsel in federal anti-trust litigation against drug manufacturers, he said.

AARP’s legal actions come against a backdrop of rising prescription drug costs. Spending for brand-name drugs has tripled in the last decade, rising from $ 40.3 billion in 1990 to $ 121.8 billion in 2000, and is expected to more than triple to $ 414 billion in this decade. Generic drugs typically cost 50 percent or less than brand-name drugs.

According to the AARP, millions of dollars are at stake annually for older Americans, who account for 42 percent of the U.S. prescription drug consumption, and other consumers who purchased prescription drugs.

The three ongoing class action cases – all in federal court – are In Re: Buspirone Antitrust litigation, In Re: K-Dur Antitrust and In Re: Tamoxifen. The AARP chose the cases because they involve important drugs that are widely used by Americans age 50 and over.

AARP attorneys are participating in these cases as co-counsel in order to ensure that a strong consumer voice is represented throughout the proceedings, including any settlement.

AARP attorneys will serve as co-counsel in the three above-mentioned cases with attorney’s associated with the Prescription Access Litigation Project (PAL), a coalition of consumer and health care organizations that was launched last year by Boston-based Catalyst.

With AARP name recognition, resources and clout, it is easy to see why Community Catalyst Executive Director Rob Restuccia is ecstatic about AARP’s decision to joint three of PAL’s class action lawsuits.

“The PAL coalition welcomes the firepower of the AARP, firepower that will strengthen our capacity to challenge the anti-competitive activities of some drug companies,” he said.

In the midst of AARP’s lawsuits here in Rhode Island, low-and moderate-income seniors and disabled will now see lower pharmaceutical costs with the passage of the three legislative proposals that would expand drug coverage of the state’s Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Assistance for the Elderly program.

A thumbs-up goes to the Rhode Island General Assembly for the wisdom of acting on these legislative proposals.

Meanwhile, at the federal level, Rhode Island U.S. Reps. Patrick J. Kennedy and James R. Langevin are gearing up for expected House debates in early June over legislation to create a drug benefit for the Medicare Program. Stay tuned for this one.