When I have discussed the West Virginia Legislature’s effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs for all state residents, I have pointed to the massive profits procured by drug companies and the considerable amount of money spent on advertising and marketing specific designer drugs, such as “the little purple pill” to consumers.

Another area of large-scale spending by drug manufacturers that may not contribute to the well-being of West Virginia residents is lobbying. A study just released by the Center for Public Integrity discusses that issue.

According to the center’s research, the pharmaceutical industry spent more than $44 million on lobbying state governments in 2003 and 2004, which was the year West Virginia adopted its landmark legislation.

The lobbying effort on behalf of the prescription drug industry has largely been aimed at what representatives refer to as attempts by the states “to impose price controls.”

Since 2000, nearly every state in the country has attempted to enact cost-saving measures within state-run prescription drug programs. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 33 states have enacted at least 66 separate pieces of legislation intended to lower prescription drug costs since 2003. We all read about Maine’s hard-fought adoption of Maine Rx in 2000, a program which requires drug companies to provide rebates to state residents who don’t have prescription drug coverage. Other states such as Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas and Missouri followed.

In West Virginia, the Legislature has given the West Virginia Pharmaceutical Cost Management Council the ability to implement a program using the Federal Supply Schedule to provide benchmark prices to negotiate from pharmaceutical manufacturers for all participants, which could include the state Public Employees Insurance Agency and the Medicaid program, private persons and companies. The council is empowered to join multi-state purchasing alliances and contract with prescription drug wholesale firms or act as wholesaler to local pharmacies once the drug prices are negotiated with the manufacturers.

Under the guidance of the Legislature, the West Virginia Cost Management Council could also take many other approaches to achieve lower pharmaceutical costs.

In addition, our state joined the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded and directed by state legislators with the intent to help legislators hoping to work jointly across state lines to make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible to people in the United States, particularly by reducing prescription drug prices.

The group meets several times a year in summits, which bring together leaders from around the country to learn about the latest strategies to advance the goal of reducing prescription drug prices and making prescription drugs more affordable.

Although I am proud of the West Virginia Legislature’s ability to enact significant cost-reducing legislation despite the powerful lobbying effort against it, I also have noted my disappointment that the Pharmaceutical Cost Management Council has not acted more swiftly to fulfill its charge.

However, the Cost Management Council recently announced the creation of a new central fill pharmacy, which would help low-income residents avoid all the paperwork needed to obtain prescription drug discounts by requiring drug companies to send prescriptions in bulk to one central, nonprofit pharmacy.

In addition, the council has appointed several subcommittees to examine specific issues that contribute to the problem of rising prescription drug costs in West Virginia, such as the use by residents of several drugs at one time.

I am very hopeful that the Pharmaceutical Cost Management Council will soon regain the momentum generated when the Legislature first adopted the 2004 Pharmaceutical Availability and Affordability Act and that the pharmaceutical industry can be convinced to redirect its spending on direct consumer marketing and lobbying toward lowering the ever-escalating cost of prescription drugs.

— Contact House Speaker Kiss, D-Raleigh, by phone: (304) 340-3210; by writing: Office of the Speaker, Room M-228, Building 1, Capitol Complex, Charleston, WV 25305; or by e-mail: castor@mail.wvnet.edu