Drugmakers' top lobbyist stepping down

WASHINGTON — The head of the influential trade association for drug manufacturers, Billy Tauzin, said late Thursday that he is leaving his job.

The development comes amid uncertainty over the fate of President Obama's health-care overhaul, which the drug association had backed after striking a deal with the administration and Senate Democrats to limit the costs to the industry in the legislation.

The deal became controversial after it was disclosed last year by Tauzin, the president and chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), who said he will step down June 30.

Obama administration officials had sought to keep the deal private but Tauzin confirmed it in an apparent effort to ensure that the administration would stick to it.

Under the agreement, costs to the drug industry in the health-overhaul legislation would have been limited to $80 billion over 10 years, much of that coming from helping close a prescription-drug coverage gap in Medicare, the health-insurance program for seniors and the disabled.

PhRMA was spending more than $100 million on TV ads in support of the health overhaul. But liberal lawmakers, particularly in the House, wanted the drug industry to pay much more in the legislation. The House version of the bill would have laid billions more in costs on the industry.

Tauzin, 66, a former congressman from Louisiana, said Thursday that when he steps down in the summer, he will have completed the 5 1/2 years he agreed to when he took the $2 million-a-year job. He said he will continue to serve as a consultant for PhRMA.

Tauzin was elected to the House as a Democrat in 1980 but switched parties, becoming a Republican in 1995. He rose to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee before announcing his retirement in 2004 when experiencing health problems.

Material from The New York Times is included in this report.