Drug Cos. Seek Ban on Price Lists.

A coalition of drug makers sued Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson for approving Michigan's 6-month-old "preferred drug list" program for Medicaid recipients.

Medications can only get on the list if its manufacturer agrees to offer the drug at a steep discount. If doctors want to prescribe a drug not included on the list, they must get prior approval from the state.

"State programs that restrict access, we feel, violate federal law and can result in harmful consequences to the country's most vulnerable patients," said Jan Faiks, a lawyer for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America or PhRMA.

PhRMA wants U.S. District Court Judge John Bates to stop Michigan's program and similar initiatives in other states. Florida and Louisiana also have the preferred drug list programs, while Connecticut, Missouri, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Vermont and West Virginia are in various stages of implementing such programs, according to PhRMA.

'Spokesmen for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan's Department of Community Health declined to comment on the hearing Wednesday. ' And I refuse to comment.