THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997 TAG: 9702080417
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 79 lines
Barr Laboratories Inc. says it is getting mixed signals from Virginia.
Last year, Gov. George F. Allen provided more than $1 million in incentives to lure the New York-based pharmaceutical company to Bedford County.
Last week, the House of Delegates approved a bill that Barr Laboratories executives say would discourage sales of a generic drug the company plans to manufacture in Bedford.
``It would be ironic indeed if this legislation were to pass,'' said Bruce Downing, chairman of Barr Laboratories, based in Pomona, N.Y.
The bill pits Barr Laboratories against pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. over the $500 million annual market for prescription blood-thinning pills, which are taken by thousands of people who have suffered strokes and heart attacks and undergone bypass operations.
Merck & Co. holds the patent for a drug sold under the brand name, Coumadin. Barr Laboratories will challenge Merck's monopoly when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a generic version of the drug.
The Virginia bill would require pharmacists to double-check with physicians when filling prescriptions for the blood-thinning pills and several other drugs requiring extremely precise doses.
A lobbyist for Merck says the bill is a ``patient safety'' measure aimed at protecting patients from toxic reactions.
But opponents say the bill amounts to nothing more than ``raw protectionism'' aimed at preserving Merck's virtual monopoly.
``The governor's office does all it can to bring Barr Laboratories to Bedford, telling them that `Virginia is Open for Business.' But as soon as they start construction - boom - they get hit with an anti-competitive bill like this one,'' said Bedford Del. Lacey Putney, an Independent whose district includes the Forest community where Barr Laboratories is investing $33 million in a plant and distribution center.
In January 1996, Allen flew to Bedford County to trumpet Barr Laboratories' decision to convert a shuttered fiber optics plant into a pharmaceutical manufacturing center.
``Barr Lab's decision is just what the doctor order,'' Allen exclaimed.
Friday, Allen acknowledged that the Merck bill could send a mixed signal to the business community.
The Republican chief executive acknowledged that he is caught between a recent industrial recruit and two of the state's largest companies. Merck has a major pharmaceutical plant near Harrisonburg, and its partner, DuPont Corp., employs hundreds of people in plants across Virginia.
He joked that all he needed was pressure from other pharmaceutical companies located in Virginia.
``It's enough of a difficult situation now,'' he said during a brief interview.
Last week, Putney came within one vote of killing the bill on the House floor. But he managed to delay the implementation date until July 1, 1998.
The House approved the amended bill, 66-33.
It now goes to the Senate Health and Rehabilitative Services Committee.
The lobbying behind the measure intensified this week. Barr Laboratories registered three more lobbyists. The Merck-DuPont team is headed by former Attorney General Anthony Troy.
The bill's sponsor, Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg, said that politics is now endangering what he called a simple layer of protection for people taking maintenance drugs in which a even a small mistake can prove toxic, if not fatal.
``Too much of this stuff and you start hemorrhaging from every orifice,'' DeBoer said, noting that the main ingredient in blood-thinners is also used in rat poison. ``It's not a pretty sight.''
``All this bill says is that pharmacists should double-check with physicians,'' Troy said. ``What Barr is really saying is they don't like patient safety because they are intent on grabbing market share.
``They want market share today - damn the torpedoes, damn public safety.''
Matthew Jenkins, a Richmond-based lobbyist hired by Barr Laboratories, called the safety issues a ruse for Merck's desire to keep generic drugs out of its lucrative market.
Jenkins said that patients will be protected by FDA oversight and a Virginia panel of experts that reviews new drugs. He also noted that the Virginia Voluntary Formulary Board, made up of physicians and pharmacists, voted Thursday to recommend against the legislation.
``This bill is tying up competition; that's all this is,'' Jenkins said.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997 PROPOSED BILLS