Bill would add 50 drugs to list of those selling for $4

01/06/2007

Intent is to "start delivering reasonably priced drugs to Minnesota consumers," but small pharmacists fear disaster.


By Warren Wolfe,
Star Tribune
Last update: January 06, 2007 – 12:19 AM


About 50 generic drugs could be priced at $4 in Minnesota, joining about 350 others already at that price at Target and Wal-Mart stores, under a bill to be introduced in the Legislature next week by Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, he said Friday.

Both chains announced the $4 generic prices late last year, but kept prices for 50 drugs higher to avoid breaking Minnesota's 1937 predatory-pricing law, which bars selling items below cost. Atkins' bill would exempt all generic and brand-name drugs from the predatory-pricing law, allowing them to be sold below cost as long as two competitors offer prices within 10 percent of the lowest price charged.

But the Minnesota Pharmacists Association warned Friday that the bill would damage the state's 259 financially fragile independent pharmacies, especially those in rural areas.

"We're already losing 10 to 12 pharmacies a year, and the state got a new study that says the average cost of dispensing a prescription is $9.50," said Liz Carpenter, the association's vice president of public affairs. "Selling a drug for $4 means we're already losing $5.59, plus our cost of buying the drug."

Leah Seehusen owns Leah's Pharmacy in Renville. "This definitely would hurt us, definitely give people a reason to drive elsewhere to shop for drugs," she said. "And it's not just these generic drugs. Most people have insurance, and if the Wal-Marts start selling other drugs below cost, the insurance companies may start demanding that we do it too."

Atkins, chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, said he's sponsoring the bill "because we need to do something to start delivering reasonably priced drugs to Minnesota consumers."

He will meet with pharmacists next week to hear their concerns, "and I hope there's a way we can work this out," he said.

He noted that the change would allow pharmacists to sell prednisone for $4. The steroid is sometimes used to treat arthritis, multiple sclerosis, some types of cancers and other conditions.

Target's list of $4 drugs already includes four different dosages of prednisone, and the law change would add a fifth dosage.

"There may be some other things the independent pharmacists can do to help them lower their costs -- for instance, sell 90 days' worth of drugs instead of 30," Atkins said.

Other drugs whose price could be affected by the law include common drugs that treat asthma and thyroid problems.

"We don't want to hurt businesses," he said. "We simply want to help people afford medicine."