National Nurses United

6 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 MINNESOTA M innesota nurses and retirees took on Big Pharma at an Octo- ber news conference. Minnesota Nurses Association members, retirees, and a spokesman for Congressional Rep. Keith Ellison spoke out against an exemption for pharmaceutical companies that could result in skyrocketing drug costs. Drug manufacturers are seeking to be excluded from the Inter Partes Review (IPR) process that would delay generic drugs from coming to market. This exemption proposal drew a loud and unified protest from nurses and patients at a press conference during the Minnesota Nurses Association Annual Convention in October. About 150 nurses from across Minnesota joined retirees at the event. "We're told by patients that they cut pills in half or only take them every other day instead of every day to try and make them last," said Jean Ross, RN and co-president of National Nurses United. If drug companies are granted an exemp- tion to IPR, they'll be able to delay competi- tion from generic drugs, which would keep medication prices artificially high. "Americans are struggling with the burden of high drug prices. Drug prices rose 12 percent last year–twice the rate of medical inflation," said Jamie Long, district director for Rep. Keith Ellison. "That's why it is so disconcerting that Big Pharma is attempting to boost their profits by preventing or delay- ing products from entering the market." IPR was passed in a bipartisan vote in Congress in 2012 to shield against improper patent claims. Many drug companies had questionable patent claims rejected in this process. An exemption for this one industry would allow some companies to maintain monopoly pricing and force retirees to choose between medication costs and paying for other basic necessities. "Carving out [exemptions for] one industry like the big pharmaceutical compa- nies is really just flat-out wrong," said Will Phillips, state director of AARP Minnesota. AARP estimates generic drugs have saved healthcare more than $1.5 trillion over the past 10 years alone. Consumers would bear the brunt of the higher drug costs, but taxpayers would pay more too. A study by the Center for Economic Research estimates that, on the low end, this exemption would cost patients and public programs between $73 billion and $220 billion more over 20 years. Medicare and Medicaid programs would pay much of that increase. "The issue is clear. Big Pharma is at it again," said Dan Mikel, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans and presi- dent emeritus of Minnesota State Retiree AFL-CIO. —Barb Brady Minnesota nurses stand up to Big Pharma NEWS BRIEFS MINNESOTA T hanks to Minnesota Nurses Asso- ciation members demanding better protection and training for health- care workers caring for patients with infectious diseases following last year's Ebola outbreak, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) announced in October that it's expanding outreach and compliance inspections in order to protect workers in the state's healthcare industry. In a letter to MNA President Linda Hamilton, RN, DOLI Commissioner Ken Peterson said Minnesota's Occupational Safe- ty and Health Administration will increase the number of compliance inspections in the healthcare industry and focus on employers' protection of employees from health and safety hazards, including blood-borne pathogens, safe patient handling, and trans- mission of aerosol diseases. Last year, MNA representatives met with Peterson and other DOLI staff to make the case for better protections for healthcare work- ers in the face of infectious diseases like Ebola. MNA and NNU were leading national voices demanding optimal protective equip- ment and training for healthcare workers in the wake of a patient in a Texas hospital dying of Ebola and two nurses contracting the disease. The state's decision to expand outreach and inspections shows that standing up for what's right does work. —Barb Brady State expands protections RNs demanded action on infectious diseases

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