Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 1, 1994 TAG: 9402010086
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - Sen. David Pryor assailed prescription drug makers Monday, warning that Congress might consider some form of controls to curb "exorbitant prices."
Pryor, D-Ark. and chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said he will introduce legislation this spring to give drug companies incentives to hold down prices. He said his bill also may include sanctions against manufacturers, such as reducing their patent protection.
Pryor released a report by the committee's Democratic staff showing wholesale prices for prescription drugs increased 3.1 percent in 1993, a decline from previous years but much higher than the 0.2 percent nationwide inflation rate for all manufacturers.
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association said last year's wholesale price increase was the lowest in 20 years and less than half the 1992 rate.
The committee staff report said retail prices for 40 of the top 200 drugs rose by more than twice the overall inflation rate of 2.7 percent.
- Associated Press
Ex-regulators back single-agency plan
WASHINGTON - A Clinton administration proposal to consolidate financial regulatory agencies into a single institution won endorsement Monday from former federal regulators.
The administration proposes creation of a Federal Banking Commission that would assume the regulatory functions of the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of Thrift Supervision and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Fed would continue to set monetary policy through its ability to control interest rates. And the FDIC would continue to insure deposits of federally insured banks and thrifts and resolve failed or failing institutions. But the comptroller and the Office of Thrift Supervision would be phased out of existence, with many of their employees transferred to the new commission.
- Associated Press
by CNB