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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David McDonough
Phone: 703-243-9262

HEALTH CARE LEADERS MEET TO DISCUSS CRITICAL ISSUES AT HIGPA 2001 NATIONAL PHARMACY FORUM

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 14, 2001) - Leading health care business executives, government officials and independent experts meet in Las Vegas, Nevada from Feb. 7-9 to discuss critical issues facing the health care industry in general, and the pharmaceutical industry in particular, at the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association's (HIGPA) 2001 National Pharmacy Forum.

With topics ranging from the human genome project, to federal health care policy, to reimbursement changes and pharmaceutical pricing, to long-term trends in the pharmaceutical industry, HIGPA's Pharmacy Forum provided a mechanism for leading purchasers and suppliers to come together to discuss areas of common concern.

"I am pleased that HIGPA's 2001 National Pharmacy Forum enabled important decision makers in the health care supply chain to analyze both the current landscape and what it may look like over the next decade," said HIGPA President and CEO Robert Betz, Ph.D. "As one of HIGPA's three annual conferences, the Pharmacy Forum is designed to both educate attendees and provide valuable networking and business-building opportunities for leading group purchasers and vendors."

Of particular note during the meeting were the educational sessions focusing on the impact of mapping the human genome, the past, present and future of pharmaceutical pricing policy issues, and the impact of industry mergers and acquisitions on the pharmaceutical industry. Each of these sessions offered attendees information from experts in the respective fields, from William Dwyer, vice president for strategic marketing at Abbott Laboratories discussing the human genome; to Bert Patterson, vice president for pharmacy at Premier and John Jones, director of pharmacy networks at Prescription Solutions discussing pricing policy issues, such as Medicaid's best price requirement; to Richard Feinstein, assistant director at the Federal Trade Commission giving a first-person account of the future of federal regulation in the pharmaceutical area.

Sponsors for the National Pharmacy Forum were MedContrax (Gold Sponsor), GlaxoWellcome (Silver Sponsor), Bayer (Silver Sponsor), Merck (Bronze Sponsor), AstraZeneca (Bronze Sponsor), Aventis (Bronze Sponsor), Physicians Formulary International (Bronze Sponsor), Pharmacia (Opening Reception), and Eli Lilly (Chairman's Reception).

For more details on the 2001 National Pharmacy Forum, or to obtain information on the 2002 National Pharmacy Forum to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, please contact HIGPA at 703-243-9262.

HIGPA's trading partner members include many of the world's leading health care product and medical supply manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and related suppliers. HIGPA's industry members include for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, purchasing groups, associations, multi-hospital systems, and health care provider alliances. According to a recent study conducted by a former principal analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, hospitals saved patients up to $19 billion in 1999 by purchasing products through group contracts.

HIGPA is a chartered trade association of approximately 180 health care purchasing and supply chain organizations that serve approximately three out of every four U.S. acute care hospitals, as well as most of the long term care, home care and medical group practice markets. To learn more about HIGPA, visit our Web site: www.higpa.org or call 703-243-9262.

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