US states plan drug purchasing pool

Officials from six US states, led by West Virginia, are currentlydrawing up plans to establish a pharmaceutical purchasing pool. Their intention is, at least initially, to obtain rebates from prescription drug manufacturers for employees of the states, although the initiative could eventually also include Medicaid enrollees, Bill Case, a spokesman for West Virginia Governor Bob Wise, has told Reuters.

The other states represented at the meeting were Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, and a further five or six states are expected to join the group's next meeting, which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, in April.

Mr Case said the group has "been getting calls from states that weren't invited that want in," adding that Gov Wise's original proposal for a multi-state drug-buying initiative, made when he was running for office late last year, had been to include Medicaid within the purchasing group. While "we haven't given up on that," Mr Case told Reuters, for the sake of expediency, the initial plan will concentrate on state employees only.