Prescription Drug Plan in D.C. Barred

"We are pleased the court today declared the District's price control bill on prescription medicine unconstitutional and blocked the enforcement of this damaging legislation," Tauzin said in a written statement. "Today's ruling is good news for residents of the District of Columbia and for the future of pharmaceutical research and development."

Catania vowed to continue the legal battle and keep an open mind about revising the law.

"That's why appeals courts exist," Catania said.

A spokesman for D.C. Attorney General Robert J. Spagnoletti did not return several calls.

Catania said it was "a fascinating spectacle watching the pharmaceutical companies argue why they have to charge District residents more than 30 percent higher prices for drugs than residents of other countries."

Pharmaceutical industry representatives say that European drug prices are set artificially low and that the District's law would reduce revenue and profits needed to develop drugs.

Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), a member of the council's Health Committee, said that in the wake of the legal setback, "it is important to keep our focus: the increasing cost and reliance on pharmaceuticals and how we bring some balance.''

"If this [law] is not the instrument that can get it done, then we need to look at others,'' he said.