Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, said he believes the disclosure could save the state millions on prescription drug costs, if trends in the three states that have similar disclosure laws hold true.

In the states with oversight of pharmaceutical advertising and marketing - Minnesota, Vermont, and Maine - lower-cost generic drugs account for 70 percent to 80 percent of all prescriptions written, compared to about 60 percent in West Virginia, he said.

The law doesn't limit drug companies' ability to advertise and market their products, but simply brings transparency to the process, he said, "just as politicians have transparency on the contributions they get."

Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, meanwhile, said he voted for the new regulations, approved Thursday in the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, only because they are "fairly weak and watered down."

Sprouse said the whole premise of the disclosure law is flawed, because it assumes that doctors can be influenced to prescribe a particular drug "if a pharmaceutical rep walks in and hands them a pen or buys them lunch...."

He added, "I can't imagine the doctors on this committee would risk their futures, their livelihoods, and their professions ... to prescribe a drug they hadn't done research on." Foster and Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, are physicians.

Beginning this year, pharmaceutical manufacturers doing business in West Virginia will have to file advertising and marketing disclosures with the state Pharmaceutical Advocate.

Besides costs for direct-to-consumer advertising, the companies will have to disclose annual spending on physicians for gifts, meals, travel, speakers' fees, or research, in broad categories beginning at $100 to $2,500 per doctor, to the top category of $10,001 or more.

"I think it's a silly approach and it will have very little effect," said Sprouse.

Foster conceded he would like to have seen tougher requirements, including specific disclosure of spending on each physician - as is the case in Vermont.

He said reining in advertising and marketing of brand-name drugs is not only an issue of cost, but a public health issue.

He cited the painkiller Vioxx as an example. The drug, heavily promoted by Merck & Co. as a treatment for arthritis pain, was yanked off the market after studies determined it doubled the risk of heart attack or stroke for patients taking it.

"Clearly, the number of people who were affected by that would have been less if it hadn't been so heavily marketed," Foster said.

To contact staff writer Phil Kabler, use e-mail or call 348-1220.