Controversy developing over prescription drug ads
By CONNIE BRUCE
Most people would recognize Valium as a commonly prescribed pain killer. What would surprise them is that the price for valium can vary as much as $8.68 for 100 tablets.
The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a regulation that would allow companies to strike down all state, local and professional group bans on advertisement. The proposal was made about three weeks ago and if imposed will become a trade regulation rule.
John McBride, regional information officer of the FTC in Kansas City, Mo., said that the commission would approve a billion dollar industry and that the commission wanted to benefit the customer by allowing advertising, current proposal and simplifying restrictions that would simply free present restrictions on it.
"It would be naive to think that some customers wanted to maintain the bans. Mr. McBride said."
He said the commission expected heated onposition to the proposal.
Questions of professional ethics, drug abuse and consumer welfare and rights arose when local pharmacists were asked to endorse drug advertising should be allowed.
Representatives of six pharmacies were questioned last week, and four responded to a survey on the prices of six common prescription drugs.
The six prescription drugs varied greatly in price at the four pharmacies checked. The ranges in price, based on 100 tablets of each drug, were as follows:
- Darwin Compound 65. The lowest price of 100 tabs was $10.88. The highest price was $218.00.
- -Librium 10 mg; The lowest was $6.54;
the highest was $10 mg. The range was $6.54
- Valium 5 mg: The lowest was $7.88, the highest was $11.56. The range was $3.68.
- Lanoxin 0.25 mg; the lowest was 98
    the highest was $34.8. The range was
    $2.50.
-Donataln Tablets: The lowest was
the highest was $4.11. The range was
$2.22.
`-Hydrodriol 50 mg:` the lowest was
the highest was $9.22. The range was
$3.23.
Darvon, Librium and Valium are pain killers. Donnatal tablets are for ulcers, and Lanoxin and Hydroduril are for heart problems.
Martin Wollman, director of student health services, said he wouldn't release prices because he didn't know how it might involve him legally.
corporation," Wollman said. "It is limited to students. We are not open to the general public. We are not in the business comparable to retail practices."
"We are not part of a profit-making
He said the health service wasn't
enough to help to let students
know what precautions they should
Howard Mossberg, dean of the School of Pharmacy, said the issue had to do with compliance.
"People used to understand and appreciate what the professional services
Mossberg said he knew that prescription drug prices varied but he questioned what services would have to be cut to maintain his goal in educating pharmacists. Mossberg, a member in their professional role and that means tending people's needs at a reasonable cost.
"that means providing a service where the intent is service and not price." he said.
The basic issue, Mossberg said, is between what is a professional service and what is an ordinary commercial operation. He said a professional service was a fuller job in personal service, and the client wasn't a position to judge the quality of that service.
"I guess it comes down to a basic issue of what it means to be a professional and hold the position."
was absolutely in favor of allowing prescription drug advertising
The State Board of Pharmacy takes a dim view of it. Cox said, "we could close a lab in South Florida without limitations."
Randolph Cox, a local pharmacist, said he
"I think it's the consumer's right," he said.
One local pharmacist who preferred not to be identified said, "Until we hear something definitive on this from the state and don't want to risk losing our licenses."
Farrell Mitchel, pharmacist, said there had been times when he would have loved to advertise, and times when he thought ad campaigns were not particularly the consumer will be hurt, he said.
He is afraid of advertising, Mitchel said, because under heavy price competition these genres are often substitute common generics for brand name drugs. There are three types of prescription drugs: popular name brands, brand generics and common generics.
The common generics, he said, haven't been tested as thoroughly and although they meet federal requirements, their effects are sometimes questionable.
Richard Raney, another local pharmacist, said, "I see no reason why we should't tell people in clear terms what our prices are and also the services in connection with those prices. I feel as if it's almost subprofessional to hide behind legislation that tells you you can't tell people prices."
Prices formerly were double whatever the drug cost the pharmacist, Raney said. Many places work on a fee schedule, he helped patients with it and was added regardless of the cost of the item.
Raney said he thought pharmacists should be open and candid before they were forced to be so. He said that pharmacists weren't like doctors and lawyers because pharmacists dealt with hard products, not just service.
Ron Koelm, another local pharmacist, said the state board's regulations weren't designed to keep people from knowing what they have to pay for prescriptions.
Services such as keeping family records, allowing charge accounts, mixing unavailable compounds and free delivery are included in drug prices. Koehn said.
Koehn said he was very comfortable about pricing by a fee schedule.
If prescription drug prices were ad-
vertised, Mossberg said, it would mean an
increase in prescription drug prices.
Martin Breedhoe, another local pharmacist, said there would be more drug availability.
Bredhehoft said there were other ways to save people money. If a patient can't pay
for a brand name prescription, his doctor is consulted to see whether the generic can be used. The generic is a cheaper drug with the same ingredients, Breedhoft said.
Bredhoft said that if a patient couldn't pay for an entire prescription, he needed the patient what the patient allowed him could afford to purchase a full prescription.
McBride said all the commission wanted to do was to open up the market so people would know where to go for certain prices. Telling someone what a drug would cost, McBride said, wouldn't demean the profession.
Mossberg said there was little evidence that smoking would really change the marketplace.
This is an emotional issue with Pnacmacists, Mossberg said, because it would represent a complete change in their practices of performing services.
The legality of prescription advertising is in a state of flux, Mossberg said, but the board is proposing rules and regulations on the issue.
MrBride said the commission's proposal to allow prescription drug advertising was rejected by the Commission.
"If you're for it you should stand up and say so because those who are against it are awful," he said.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WARM
The University of Kansas—Lawrence. Kansas
SES director to be appointed
Tasha and Sadie
Monday. June 23. 1975
See page 4
The search for a new associate director of Supportive Educational Services (SES) has been narrowed to three candidates, Dorothy Bostock and the search committee, said Friday.
The search report will go to Mary
Brown, the department director, early
next week. Ferguson said.
The associate director of SES is supervised by the Minority Affairs director, so it is necessary that Townsend make the final decision. Pennington said.
There were 57 applicants for the position. The search committee interviewed five candidates last week, Victor Vasquez, a member of the search committee, said.
SES, a tutorial and counseling service for minority students, has been without a director since Gary Flanigan, the former director resigned in February. At that time, the Office of Minority Affairs and SES.
Sex interferes with revolution
COTONOU, Dahoney (AP)—President Matheu Kerekou of Hydonamed a replacement yesterday for Interior Minister Michel Alkpe, the man whom the president found in bed with Mrs. Kerekou and had killed, the national radio said.
"The revolution is not a gala dinner, neither is it a child's game," the broadcast said. "Those who want to play with it will learn the lesson at their expense."
Observers expected a crackdown on dissidents, although there was no known impact.
Named as acting interior minister was 11. Martin Azionho, who on Saturday, in his other role as information minister, told this African nation of the incident.
Keurubk哭闹到 Alkle's home Friday night and found the minister in the arms of his wife, the radio said. As Alkle tried to escape, he was preside d guard shot him down. It said
Kerekou, 41, called a meeting of Dahomey's political and military leaders Saturday, informed them of the shooting and ordered them to draw the necessary
photo finish
106-yard dash at the Missouri Valley Junior Olympic meet at Memorial Stadium Saturday morning, Keller's time was 11.4.
Lawyers debate Court's fee rule
Nick Keller, Easton (left) leans at the tape to win the junior boys
By KELLY SCOTT
Kansas Staff Reporter
Last week's Supreme Court decision that minimum fee schedules published by local bar associations are in violation of federal antitrust laws resolves years of speculation on the ethics of fee schedules by area lawyers and legal experts.
In Goldfarb v. Fairfax County Bar Association, the Court ruled that the legal profession is subject to federal antitrust law. The court concluded interferees with interstate commerce.
The practice of law had previously been exempt from antitrust laws on the basis of the Parker v. Brown case, which held that the law of law was one of the "learned professions."
A fee scheduled is a list of suggested fees a lawyer can charge for a space. County, state or city courts may have
For example, the last fee schedule published in Douglas County in October 1970 contained the following suggested prices for legal services: $150 for a change of name, $350 minimum for a divorce and $200 for a mortgage for closure.
association, upon recommendation by the state bar.
Although the last fee schedule was published in Douglas County in 1970, Lawrence lawyer Fred Six said last week that Douglas County lawyers had never seriously followed the fee schedule. They were required to report such factors, such as time spent on the case, a fixed hourly fee and the clients' ability to pay, Six said.
The main defense of fee schedules was that they prevent price competition.
These figures represent a minimum recommended fee and are intended only as
Martin Dickinson, dean of the School of Law and a member of the Douglas County Bar Association, said the decision by the Supreme court would have no effect in Douglas County because lawyers here didn't use fee schedules.
The Goldfarb case, Dickinson said, dealt with a strict, inflexible fee schedule peculiar to Virginia and parts of the country other than Kagas.
"Law cases don't lend themselves to standardization," Six said.
John Murphy, professor of law, said the attitude toward suicide was relaxed and low key.
Web Golden, associate professor of law, is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. Although he said he had never practiced there, Golden said the practice in Virginia of the state bar making fee recommendations to local bar
associations would tend to make the fee schedule more mandatory.
The Kansas Bar Association has never published a statewide fee schedule. Golden
Dickinson said the importance of the case was in the practice of the legal profession as that is valid because it is not
"It's never been much of a factor," Murphy said.
The fact that local bar association leaders have been active in the area of legal ethics and have been aware of the fee schedule has made national效阶 on law students, Murphy said.
The American Bar Association is evasive on the question of fee schedules, Golden
"They talk around the issue," Golden said, "but their wording seems to suggest that violations could cause 'professional discipline.'"
Increase in budget for SUA submitted
By BILL KATS
Kansan Staff Reporter
SUA would receive a $6,500 increase in its operating budget for fiscal 1976 under a proposed budget for the University of Kansas Memorial Corporation.
The Fiscal and Financial Affairs Committee and the Executive Committee of the Memorial Corporation Board unanimously accepted the budget Thursday, sending it to the Kansas Legislature in July. The memorial Corporation oversees the operation of the Kansas Union.
The 1976 budget of $2,424.5, presented to the joint committees by Warner Ferguson, associate director of the Union, increases the annual budget last year's allocation of about $17,500.
Ferguson said Friday that he thought the increase would help SUA avoid the financial difficulties it experienced last year. These difficulties led the board to conclude that SUA's budget wasn't realistic, Ferguson said.
Ferguson said SUA would have to be more careful this year when scheduling concerts
"For two years the concert area has flopped." Ferguson said.
The Festival of the Arts, a traditional money loser, will be back after a year's absence. The festival is expected to lose nearly $5,000.
Labor costs to the Union for the year are expected to increase to $1,203,212, an increase of 7.8 percent last year. Wages and salaries are to be increased and several new positions will be added. These increased costs were a cause of labor disputes. Union student privilege fee for next year.
Beginning next fall, the fee will be increased $1.50 for each full-time student for fall and spring semesters and $1 for the summer.
A net profit of $21,343 is expected for the union next year. This figure is one-half of the union's total earnings.
For the first time in the corporation's history, sales volume is expected to exceed $4 million. Concessions are expected to increase. All sales are expected to loss nearly $18.000.
Ferguson said the additional fees would pay about half of labor costs. He said the remainder would come from higher wages and greater union room rental charges.
"I feel that it will be difficult for us to ever
be black with food services;"
Ferzington
Attendance at SUA films is also down a little, he said.
"It has a substantial effect in the Jay Bowl area," Ferguson said. "Their income is at least $40 million."
He said the state of the economy had had no effects on certain areas of Union affairs.
Ferguson said the corporation would be undertaking two major improvements for next year as the result of findings from last year's comprehensive user survey.
One is the beginning of research on development of a branch Union. Ferguson said the Union was suffering from a lack of space.
"We could do a better job in SUA if we had more space." he said.
new improvement is a $110,000
project to renovate the Union's main lobb
beginning next month.
New Fine Arts dean well known organist
By JENIFER OTWELL Karisan Staff Reporter
The next dean of the University of Kansas School of Fine Arts is much more than a master of art.
James Moeser, who will become dean of the school on July 1, has made numerous national concert tours, recorded two nationally hosted albums and sung the music that was carried by National Public Radio. Moeser said last week that his goal was to make the school better known to
KU is already nationally known for its fine arts program, he said. A Rockefeller Panel Report in 1965 named KU among the top music schools in the nation.
"My purpose is to convince the people of Kansas that music is important, that Moeser said, 'The traditional musicians know about the University of Kansas, but many Kansas don't realize what an excellent instrument'."
KU is the only school in Kansas that has a doctoral program in music, he said. L. Don Scheid, associate dean of the school, said her energetic, dynamic and personable.
"This is easily shown by the interest he has generated in the organ department," he said.
Moeser said he wouldn't continue
teaching next year because he wanted to devote his time to learning his new job
Interest in the arts, both musical and visual, has increased. Meeser said, but orchestras are still failing in the United States. He said that the arts in Europe receive government support and that such support was necessary here.
"Foundation support is not as great because of a shrinking monetary base in this era of recession," he said. "The only ultimate answer for the arts in this country is government subsidy. This is beginning to happen already."
"There's no doubt that interest in classical music has increased," he said, "especially in Bach and the music of the Renaissance. It is an important interest in the visual arts and crafts."
"It is a cultural phenomenon that relates to the need that people feel," he said. "The arts give them an inner fulfillment in this mechanized and depersonalized age."
Moeser said he practiced about two or
a day when he was preparing for a
forthcoming event.
"I if sit at my desk all day, I need to practice at home," he said. "My wife is my most critic.