Arizona Medicaid Committee Must Disclose Drug-Company Ties

Arizona wants to limit the influence pharmaceutical companies have on the drugs the state chooses for preferred coverage by its Medicaid program, under a new executive order.

The directive issued July 27 by Gov. Doug Ducey (R) follows a national investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and NPR into how the industry influences the health-care program for low-income people. It found Janssen and Otsuka were among the companies paying a member of Arizona’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, who collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for work over several years.

Ducey’s order seeks to increase transparency of that committee, which ...