DRUG DIVERSION BILL TO BE MARKED UP MARCH 31

DRUG DIVERSION BILL TO BE MARKED UP MARCH 31 by the House Commerce/Health Subcommittee. The legislation (HR 1207) is expected to pass the subcommittee with a single amendment substituting new drug sampling provisions, negotiated by the bill's sponsor Rep. Dingell (D-Mich.) and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association.

Dingell and PMA formally agreed on a new version of the diversion bill March 12 ("The Pink Sheet" March 16, p. 3). All pharmacy-related groups except PMA have supported earlier versions of the diversion bill, and PMA opposed only the sampling provisions. HR 1207 would have limited distribution of physician samples to mail and common carrier. The substitute amendment will permit detail personnel to distribute samples. Unlike earlier tentative compromises which were scuttled last fall, the new Dingell-PMA agreement does not provide criminal penalties for executives of companies whose employees are convicted of diverting samples.

Sen. Matsunaga (D-Hawaii) is expected to hold a hearing on his version of the diversion bill (S 368) in the Senate Finance Committee. The Dingell bill is expected to sail quickly through the Health Subcommittee and Dingell's full Commerce Committee to passage by the House. Because of the Senate Finance Committee's focus on trade legislation, Dingell's bill could pass the House before Matsunaga's bill is out of the Senate Finance Committee. In that case, the senator could forego markup of his bill and ask that the House bill be held for consideration by the full Senate or he could attach S 368 as rider to other Senate legislation destined for passage.

Rep. Waxman's (D-Calif.) Health Subcommittee is also expected to pass his bill to require Senate confirmation of FDA commissioner appointments.

The measure (HR 1224) was introduced on Feb. 24 and is identical to his bill that passed the House last year but was not enacted. Sen. Gore (D-Tenn.) introduced a similar bill (S 223) in January. Gore also sponsored a version of the legislation last year; it passed the Senate, but too late in the session to be reconciled with Waxman's House-passed version.