Fw: ABC News Special on Rx Drugs ¯ May 29, 10-11PM ET

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----- Original Message -----

From: " Congress Watchdog " <CONGRESSWATCHDOG@...>

Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 5:15 PM

Subject: ABC News Special on Rx Drugs ¯ May 29, 10-11PM ET

May 21, 2002

ABC NEWS TO AIR ONE-HOUR SPECIAL REPORT ON AMERICA'S BILLION DOLLAR

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY THAT ASKS WHAT ARE WE GETTING FOR OUR MONEY

" Jennings Reporting - Bitter Medicine: Pills, Profit and the Public

Health, " Airs Wednesday, May 29 from 10-11 PM ET

More money is spent on prescription drugs in America than in any other

country in the world. Most of the current debate surrounding this

billion-dollar industry focuses on questions about their high cost and how

to pay for them. But in an hour-long primetime ABC News special,

Jennings asks the crucial questions that have been overlooked in the debate

so far: What drugs are we getting for our money? Are the new drugs on the

market really better than the old drugs? How are consumers supposed to know

which drugs are best? " Jennings Reporting - Bitter Medicine: Pills,

Profit and the Public Health " will air Wednesday, May 29 from 10:00-11:00 PM

ET, on the ABC Television Network.

Jennings begins his report with an examination of the drugs approved by the

Food and Drug Administration in recent years, and asks: What kind of drugs

are we getting from the pharmaceutical industry? Drug industry trade

association head Alan Holmer tells ABC News about the high cost of

developing new drugs and the difficulty in bringing important drugs to

market. But Chockley, of the National Institute for Health Care

Management counters that the level of innovation coming from the industry is

mixed and over the last decade the FDA has approved more and more drugs that

are not significantly better than the ones they are replacing.

" We found that while policy makers are debating how to pay for drugs, many

doctors are starting to ask just how valuable are the drugs we are getting, "

said Jennings.

" Bitter Medicine " also looks at the current battle between brand and generic

drug manufacturers. Jennings reports on the tactics used by some brand name

companies to delay access to generic drugs. These may not only be costing

consumers billions of dollars each year, but they could also be preventing

companies from developing important and necessary new alternatives.

This ABC News special goes on to take a closer look at two of the most

heavily advertised drugs - Celebrex and Vioxx - to see how these new,

expensive drugs compare to those that cost a fraction of the price.

Finally, the report examines how much - or how little - we know about any

drug when it first comes on the market, and how advertising and promotion

can often get patients using drugs before their relative safety and

effectiveness are fully understood.

Mr. Jennings finds that in the debate about prescriptions drugs, the

question should not be - how can we pay for all these drugs, but rather, is

the current system working and are consumers and patients who spend billions

of dollars each year on prescription drugs really getting their money's

worth?

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