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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ibexx who wrote (4792)	8/7/1998 7:06:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

08/07 05:20 German drink distributor fights Pfizer over Viagra MUNICH, Aug 7 (Reuters) - A German drink distributor is fighting U.S. drug giant Pfizer Inc <PFE.N> for the right to stamp an energy drink with the name "Viagra". Peter Vielgrader, who heads the N.R.GY. drink distributorship in Munich, said on Thursday that he is appealing against an injunction issued by Munich district court that halted the sale of a drink called, "Viagra Drink for Strong Moments". Viagra is also the name of Pfizer's blockbuster drug to treat male impotence. A decision on the appeal, which is being heard by the same district court, is expected within the next few weeks. moneynet.com@NEWS-P2&Index=0&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=

To: Ibexx who wrote (4792)	8/7/1998 7:11:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Lawmaker Promises Viagra Coverage Friday August 7 6:58 PM EDT LAURA MECKLER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The fight over Medicaid coverage of Viagra continues as a congressman tells states that they don't have to pay for the drug, even though the Clinton administration has told them that they must. That's because the Department of Health and Human Services failed to notify Congress properly of its ruling, Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., wrote in a letter to all 50 governors. The HHS directive ''has no legal force or effect and should not be regarded as binding on the states,'' wrote McIntosh, chairman of the regulatory subcommittee of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee. McIntosh has been campaigning to push the administration to notify Congress properly when it issues interpretations of law, said subcommittee counsel Sean Cunningham. HHS contends the notification on Viagra was a simple explanation of law, not a regulation that requires formal notification. ''We had been asked to give guidance to the states, and we provided that,'' Chris Peacock, a spokesman for the Health Care Financing Administration which runs Medicaid, said Friday. With few exceptions, state Medicaid programs must cover all federally approved drugs. That includes Viagra, HHS told states last month when it said the medication does not fall under any exception. Still, states are resisting, predicting it would cost $100 million per year to pay for the impotence drug, mostly for disabled men covered by Medicaid, a health insurance program for the poor and disabled. New York and Wisconsin already have said they plan to ignore the HHS directive. Meanwhile, a spending bill moving through Congress would ban federal payments for the drug. McIntosh agrees with the states. In his July 27 letter to governors, he called the HHS interpretation ''a glaring example of command-and-control regulation.'' But the states will benefit from a procedural point, he argued. ''They didn't follow the prescribed procedures,'' Cunningham said. It happens all the time, he said. ''The only reason this is getting attention is because it's about Viagra.'' dailynews.yahoo.com