To the phones, people !

Also, call Pelosi’s office and tell her to include Dennis Kucinich’s amendment into the House Bill.
Pelosi’s D.C. Office (202) 225-4965; San Francisco Office (415) 556-4862

Signed. Are these people ever going to break the hold the murder by spreadsheet industry has on them?

Thank you, Jane!!

Thank you, Knox!

I spoke to a woman in Eshoo’s office this morning. She was very good and knew the talking points. She told me that the things that were troubling to people had been removed from the amendment. I asked what if a small tweak was done to the drug which appeared to be a loophole. Her reply was that “what is a small tweak to us can be a huge cost to the drug company.”
I think that’s the answer – the loophole is there and will go forward apparently. She said it would probably come to a vote possibly this week.

huge cost to the drug company

Read lowering of profits and executive bonuses.

and therefore Evergreening.

David Vitter to the left of Eshoo on this issue.

I know you had to read that like ten times Jane before publishing that. Maybe more.

Jane, I have a suggestion. The POP buttons are nice but I think next time we do buttons they should be a little bigger. Folks have to get right up on it to see what it says. Having had to order campaign buttons for 3 congressional campaigns I know they’re not the cheapest thing in the world but visibility counts for a lot.

You should do a Seminal diary on that, Twain.

You mean one that isn’t filled with hate and such? *g*

Give it up, Jane. This is a garbage bill and not even lipstick can give it a better rep.

Now listen up a bit… Obama is doomed if it gets signed and he’s doomed if it does not.

If it does not get passed, everyone’s worst fears will be verified about his abilities and his staff. His mistake was to kick his base in the face, trust bribed politicians to write it, and not to stand for anything…

If it does get passed, it will be the biggest rallying point for single payers who will be fed up. A rallying point for seniors because of the lethal cuts to Medicare. A rallying point for the young who WILL NOT be forced to pay the equivalent of a mortgage for something they don’t want or need. A rallying point for anti-death panels (which are still in there) and a rallying point for people WHO ARE TOTALLY FED UP WITH CORPORATE STEALING BILLIONS.

But please don’t bother defending any part of it. Lets move on. It will be a total car crash. Your best strategy is to realize this and get on with becoming part of the solution. THis bill is not part of the solution.

Not to mention the gouging that has already started and will continue. But let it go, perhaps next time we can put them in jail.

She told me that the things that were troubling to people had been removed from the amendment

did she even try to offer up any proof it had been removed ?

Jane ,can i send you a package,at the Va post office box?

And what about the next time and the one after that? Do we just walk away? Nope. Not in my nature to do that. We make them fight us every step of the way. Maybe they will be the ones to give up.

Well said and a lot nicer than I was going to be. I’m not feeling kindly toward quitters.

Never. Give. Up.

tell the reps the story of Jonas Saulk,a true American hero,who gave the world the POLIOvaccine to SAVE LIVES….PATENT FREE

HI…Harrys ear on the mend

No, but reading for the 4th time Anna’s writing in the Huff Post, I think what was taken out was the part about “new indication, route of administration, dosage form, etc.”

That’s what I wanna hear!!

thank you. and thanks so much for calling.
that someone I once so highly regarded has become a treacherous shill coldly wreaking havoc on women fighting for their lives has really sent me around the bend. which is a long way of saying I wont be talking to any of her offices anytime soon.

Maybe you should call. Or e-mail. Don’t know any other way to get our point across. I’m way too old to picket her office. Anna, in the past, has been very sensitive to other people’s feelings about her. It upsets her so maybe now would be a good time to upset her.

Signed but I still think the bill should be defeated. Again, where is the outrage about the deals the Obama Admin made? Where is the outrage about the lack of transparency?

There was all kinds of hell raised about Cheney and his secret meetings with energy producers; why hasn’t there been the same sort of response to Obama’s deals?

Signed. And, a note to him/them.
Sometimes we have a hard time paying the rent/mortgage, and food. We need generic drugs. Please, please do this.

I will eventually get around to it – just so spitting angry right now, don’t want to serve as a foil in their That Hamsher woman sent her uncivil flying monkeys to attack us ! bs, that is no doubt coming.

Here’s what I sent to Eshoo’s staffer:

Greetings,

I met you at the Palo Alto office on October 30 as part of a small demonstration opposing Congresswoman Eshoo’s legislation on biosimilars. You gave me a packet with information that had Congresswoman Eshoo saying her legislation prohibits evergreen exclusivity, I asked you for a cite for the relevant language.

I’ve done the research myself already. While Congresswoman Eshoo’s statement that her legislation prohibits evergreen data exclusivity can be defended her language is open to other interpretations. In particular this clause troubles me: (pg1538, lines 8-10, ‘‘(I) a change (not including a
modification to the structure of the biological product’ ). A minor structural modification (the PEGylation process is a good example of this) restarts the exclusivity. This type of change does not require “billions of dollars”, it can be done by a well equiped high school lab. And this clause makes it much harder to give credence to the Congresswoman’s claim that she prohibits evergreening.

Senator Schumer introduced a different biosimilars bill in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. It differs from Congresswoman Eshoo’s bill in many ways that I support. One key difference is his language on evergreening is much less ambiguous.

Setting aside the 5 year versus 12 year exclusivity period (I know Congresswoman Eshoo is unlikely to change on the exclusivity period even though there’s a strong case that it should be shorter) I’m wondering whether my representative will work for stronger and less ambiguous language on evergreen exclusivity. Her claim that she already prohibits evergreening tells me she truly wants to do so; I’d be very pleased to see her set aside her work for much stronger work to accomplish that common goal. I’m petitioning her to work with the speaker to introduce the appropriate amendment to substitute section (10) from S.726 into HR3200.

As I said to you on Friday, we need to be working to make these medicines more affordable, and I see Congresswoman Eshoo’s work as making sick people have to choose between life and bankruptcy. The beneficiaries of her work here are investors in biotechnology – their return on investment is increased at a cost to the general public that is far too high.

Sincerely yours,

–
wmd1961 (name elided for privacy reasons)

Having an actual email address for a staffer is a big win over the web contact form. Using the web form means no context from previous emails, you can’t even cc your message to yourself. So you get a boilerplate response that doesn’t address your issues, rinse, repeat until frustrated. I’ve complained about it during calls to her office.

With a live person’s email that shouldn’t happen. I’ve had some history on this with Baron Hill (email to staff ignored), Evan Bayh (ignored), Richard Lugar (long term engagement with staff – they read the books I sent and clearly read and digested the information). My hope is Eshoo’s staff will be responsive.

signed and called.

I’m nobody’s flying monkey!

And we can be civil, I think we gain a lot more that way. Leave the anger and rancorous debate to the teabaggers.

Excellent reporting (if I may call it that).

Seriously, if you have time, you should follow Jane’s advice @ 10 and submit a Seminal diary on that call and your insight re the answer.

Seriously, is it ok to refer to bloggers making such inquiries and getting information as “reporting” (which is what I’d call it), or does that upset the journalist types?

I call it reporting. You’re making a report on something.

It’s even journalism, as in making a journal entry. captain’s log, web log, journal entry are semantically equivalent in essence.

signed will call tomorrow.
Ohio is proud proud proud of our dear sincere Senator Sherrod Brown!
“reduce health care cost and expand quality care to all Americans”