Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, examines Senate rejection of legislation that would allow the federal government to negotiate Medicare prescription drug prices, Senate approval of a bill that would expand stem cell research funding and House and Senate discussions on FDA reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork and CQ." According to Carey, Democrats in the Senate were unable to gain the 60 votes needed to consider legislation that would allow the HHS secretary to negotiate Medicare drug prices directly with drug makers. However, other elements of "Democrats' strategy on drug pricing ... are still in play," including a bill that would prevent brand-name drug makers from making arrangements with generic drug manufacturers to delay market entry of new generics, legislation that would allow prescription drug reimportation and a bill that would increase access to generic versions of biotechnology drugs, Carey says. Carey also discusses Senate approval of a bill that would allow federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cell lines. According to Carey, President Bush has vowed to veto the bill if the House, which has passed a different version of the legislation, approves the Senate measure. According to Carey, it is unlikely that the House will have enough votes to override the veto; the Senate is one vote away from the required two-thirds majority. The Senate also approved a competing bill, which would allow funding to encourage research on other types of stem cell lines, Carey says. Finally, Carey discusses House and Senate debate on PDUFA reauthorization. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved legislation that would overhaul FDA's drug safety program and user fees, and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health also is holding hearings on PDUFA reauthorization. According to Carey, the chambers are focusing on areas such as direct-to-consumer advertising, user fees paid by drug makers to speed FDA approval of new drugs and postmarket drug safety monitoring (Carey, "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork and CQ," 4/23).

The complete audio version of "Health on the Hill," transcript and resources for further research are available online at kaisernetwork.

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