Prescription drug aid available for Nevadans

CARSON CITY -- The nation's pharmaceutical industry is looking for 150,000 low- and moderate-income Nevadans so that it can give them free or discount prescription drugs.

"This is not a publicity stunt," Ken Johnson, senior vice president of communications for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said during a news conference Wednesday on the Capitol mall.

Johnson said pharmaceutical companies last year gave away 35 million prescription drugs valued at $5 billion to uninsured Americans. Only 25,000 Nevadans took advantage of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance program, and Johnson calculates that 150,000 other people in the state would qualify for prescription help.

"Don't be too proud not to ask for help," said Johnson, who figures that most people don't know about the program.

He and other pharmaceutical industry employees drove a "Help is Here Express" bus into Nevada to tout the program at a news conference attended by Gov. Jim Gibbons and legislative leaders.

On the buses, people will find a row of computers and pharmaceutical company staff members who will help them determine whether they qualify for free or discount drugs.

Generally, an uninsured couple with a combined income of less than $21,000 and a family of four with an income of less than $36,000 will receive help in drug purchases.

Drugs will arrive by mail within three or four weeks once patients fill out applications and furnish proof of a prescription from a doctor.

Television talk show host Montel Williams, a spokesman for the program, will be on hand when the bus stops today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at North Vista Hospital, 1409 E. Lake Mead Boulevard in North Las Vegas.

People don't have to show up at the bus to get free prescription drugs. They only need to log on to the Partnership for Prescription Assistance Web site at www.PPARX.org for applications and information about the program.

People also can call the toll-free number 1-888-4PPA-NOW to receive applications and assistance.

More than 180 discount drug programs are offered by pharmaceutical companies.

"This is one issue on which there is no disagreement," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno. "Prescription drugs are absolutely necessary, and we need to make sure people know about this program."

He added that the pharmaceutical industry is routinely criticized, but that the Partnership for Prescription Assistance program shows drug companies do step forward to help the less fortunate.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, also praised the pharmaceutical industry and spoke of how it is relatively easy for people to determine whether they qualify for drug assistance when they log on to the program's Web site.