In the latest skirmish over prescription drug pricing, consumer activists filed a lawsuit against Ohio officials for ordering a review of signatures collected for a ballot measure designed to lower the cost of medicines.
The proposed measure, known as the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act, would require the state to pay no more for medicines than the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Currently, the VA gets a 24 percent discount off average manufacturer prices. A similar measure recently qualified for the ballot in California, despite opposition from the pharmaceutical industry.
The lawsuit was filed two days after Ohio Secretary of State John Husted demanded election officials conduct another review of more than 171,000 signatures. He took that step after attorneys for the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, the industry trade group, wrote a letter to Husted to question the validity of many of the signatures that had been submitted.
About the Author Reprints
