Election Gives Drug Industry New Influence

Executives of the major drug manufacturers met last week at the Westfield International Conference Center, near Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia, to plan ways to turn that influence into legislative victories.

The meeting was described by an industry lobbyist as a "strategic planning retreat" and "deep philosophical conversations about our message for 2003." A pervasive theme was how to block proposals that could erode profits by limiting drug prices or making it easier for people to buy low-cost generic versions of brand-name medicines.

Already, industry executives have been encouraged by a recent move to insert a provision in the domestic security bill limiting the legal liability of vaccine manufacturers like Eli Lilly. On Tuesday, several senators from both parties said Republican leaders had promised to alter the provision next year, so it would apply only to vaccines made in the future.

But today, aides to Representative Tom DeLay, the incoming House majority leader, said Mr. DeLay had agreed only to consider such proposals. Aides to several Republican senators troubled by the provision said they were confident that the deal would stand.

The industry's No. 1 goal is to shape legislation that both parties advocate to provide prescription benefits to the 40 million elderly and disabled people in the Medicare program. What the industry fears most is price controls or any federal effort to establish a list of preferred drugs that leaves out other medications.