Health & Medicine

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell will reduce the hours of thousands of state workers in response to the Affordable Care Act, and a new report sheds light on how the Commonwealth stacks up against other states on some politically powerful issues.

Those stories were among the most-read newspaper reports this past week at VaNews, Virginia Public Access Project’s daily online compilation of political reporting from around the state. Fred Echols reports.

Virginia could become the first state in the nation to restrict a new class of generic medications.  But drug companies want limits and some pharmacists are concerned.

Amgen is the world’s largest biotech company – a California firm that makes medicines from living cells.  These remedies, known as biologicals, are expensive and protected by patents, but the Affordable Care Act clears the way for cheaper, generic forms of these products.  

Governor McDonnell took part in a news conference this week – welcoming representatives of the pharmaceutical industry to Richmond, and singing the praises of clinical trials in the Commonwealth.  That might seem like a noble thing, but it could also have been part of a push to improve the industry’s image as it protects future profits through new state laws.