Sen. Hatch on orphan amendments
Executive Summary
Legislation to modify the Orphan Drug Act "is going nowhere right now," Hatch (R-Utah) predicted at a June 29 meeting of lobbyists in Washington. He said that the changes that would be mandated by Rep. Waxman's (D-Calif.) bill (HR 4638) "gut and ruin the very bill he and I put through" in establishing the orphan drug program. Hatch added: "I have some difficulty with the liberal mind because they just seem to dislike anybody making any profits." Waxman has offered to "sit down" and work out his differences with the ranking minority member of the Labor & Human Resources Committee, where the Senate version of the bill has been referred.