Should Representative Andrews cosponsor Drug Legislation while working for Big Pharma?

Should Representative Andrews cosponsor Drug Legislation while working for Big Pharma?

By Genevieve Fraser

Representative Andrews (D-Orange) - who is on the Joint Committees on Election Law, Labor and Workforce Development and Revenue - crossed over to the area of Public Health to cosponsor H. 594 which directs the Department of Public Health to promulgate regulations governing the administration of medication to children in school. 

In an article by Richie Davis of the Greenfield Recorder, it was recently revealed that Representative Andrews works up to 50 hours per week for the pharmaceutical giant Novartis while also serving as state representative for the 2^nd Franklin District.

Along with dealing with epinephrine, H. 594 also states: no school district shall prohibit students with asthma or other respiratory diseases from possessing and administering prescription inhalers. XoLair is a Novartis asthma drug with warnings that it should only be administered in a doctor's office because of possible severe allergic reactions.  In addition, E-MERG PEN is an epinephrine medication trademarked by Novartis.

Perhaps H. 594 is a good bill or perhaps not, the real issue here is should Representative Andrews cosponsor legislation involving administration of drugs to school children while working up to 50 hours per week for one the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world? Clearly, Novartis stands to gain financially if the legislation should pass. Doesn't this present a conflict of interest for Representative Andrews?

For the record, the bill has been acted on since she accepted the position with Novartis in September 2011, though by her own admission she was approached by the company last summer. Here's the record of actions taken on the legislation.

Actions for Bill H.594

Date	Branch	Action
1/24/2011	House	Referred to the committee on Public Health
1/24/2011	Senate	Senate concurred
10/20/2011	Joint	Hearing scheduled for 10/25/2011 from 10:00 AM-01:00 PM in A-1
12/27/2011	House	Reported favorably by committee and referred to the committee on Health Care Financing
2/23/2012	House	Committee recommended ought to pass with an amendment, substituting a bill with the same title (H3959)
2/23/2012	House	Committee recommended ought to pass and referred to the committee on House Steering, Policy and Scheduling with the amendment pending