Health Care Choices Get Clearer

Two bills introduced in Congress recently stake out rival positions on a key issue related to health care reform. Which approach ultimately prevails will help determine whether the pharmaceutical industry maintains the support that Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler voiced Wednesday for President Obama’s plan’s to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) introduced a bill Tuesday that would give manufacturers of new drugs up to 14 years of market exclusivity before generic versions could come onto the market. Earlier this month, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) introduced legislation providing five years market exclusivity. Big Pharma hailed the Eshoo bill while the Obama administration has indicated it prefers the Waxman approach.

Can the drug companies live with shorter exclusivity, which cuts into the big profits margins of popular drugs?

Maybe, says Kindler, who heads the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer. He told CNN, “My guess is that, assuming there is comprehensive health care reform and it’s passed, there will be elements of any bill that any number of participants won’t like, because everybody will undoubtedly have to make compromises and contributions. And I’m sure we will be no exception, nor should we be, by the way.”

In an op-ed that appeared today in The Washington Post, former House Speaker Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) — who withdrew his nomination to be President Obama’s secretary of health and human services earlier this month amid a tax scandal –  said the prospect for comprehensive health care reform has never been better, in part, because “reformers have some new and unlikely allies,” including the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

Since his bid to become HHS secretary failed, Daschle has become more of a cheerleader, not a czar. But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

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