K Street in Brief

Mortar and a pestle 

A niche group of pharmacists has entered into an alliance with the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) in hopes of fending off legislative regulatory actions that threaten their livelihood, the two groups announced this week.

The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) represents druggists that mix custom-made prescriptions for patients with special needs. A formal partnership with the NCPA, whose members are independent pharmacies, could strengthen the smaller group’s hand in Washington.

{mosads}“The federal government has shown a proclivity for pursuing and adopting unwarranted and unnecessary policies when it comes to pharmacy compounding,” Bruce Roberts, executive vice president and CEO of the NCPA, said in a statement.

Last year, Congress considered expanding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authority to oversee these pharmacists, a responsibility currently residing at the state level. Some pharmaceutical company interests also want the medicines mixed by compounding pharmacists to be considered new drugs and require FDA approval.

The alliance between the IACP and the NCPA is the latest example of closer relationships forming between the sometimes-warring factions of the house of pharmacy. The NCPA and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) have worked in concert more frequently in recent years. The NACDS and the NCPA are partners in a coalition to promote policies beneficial to community pharmacies and co-owners of SureScripts, an electronic prescriptions network.

Jeffrey Young
 

Windfall? What windfall? 

High gasoline prices mean big bucks for some oil companies, but not everyone in the industry is reaping a windfall. Oil refiners are being squeezed by high oil prices and declining demand for gasoline that now costs more than $4 a gallon.

A lobbyist for one sent a chart that he is showing on Capitol Hill. It highlights the different fortunes of refiners and large integrated oil companies that continue to break revenue records.

Oil refiner Valero took in $261 million during the first quarter. Not bad, until you consider that it was down more than 77 percent from the $1.14 billion it made a year ago.

Sunoco , Tesoro , Western, Frontier , Holly and Alon, meanwhile, all lost money in the first quarter after each scored profits last year.

Meanwhile, net income at the five largest oil companies — Chevron , ExxonMobil , ConocoPhillips , BP and Shell — increased by over 20 percent, on average.

The point of the chart is that while the media and consumers may want to count the oil industry as monolithic, it isn’t. There are large companies that do it all — extract, refine and sell; independents that principally produce the oil and gas; and refiners that turn the raw material into gasoline, among other parts of the oil chain.

A Senate energy bill backed by Democratic leaders noted the difference. It would have taxed the profits of the largest oil companies. But there was still too much resistance for the measure to overcome the 60-vote cloture threshold.

Nevertheless, with gas prices now topping out at over $4 a gallon, there is political pressure to keep the pressure on the industry, and the companies that are not sharing in the overall largess are likely to continue to note the differences on Capitol Hill.

Jim Snyder

Patton Boggs inks contract with Angola

One of Washington’s most prominent lobby firms has signed a substantial contract with a rising oil power in Africa.

Patton Boggs has signed a yearlong contract, which started May 5, with the government of the Republic of Angola.

Paid in monthly installments of $200,000, the firm’s retainer will come to $2.4 million for the year.

The firm will “counsel the foreign principal concerning its public affairs efforts with the U.S. government,” according to documents filed with the Justice Department. Joseph Brand, a partner at the firm, and Thomas Hale Boggs will oversee the contract.

Angola’s oil reserves could prove vital for the United States as gas prices continue to rise.

The 12th member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Angola is the third-largest African oil exporter behind Libya and Nigeria. The country produced almost 1.7 million barrels of oil per day on average in 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Angola is also known for its diamond trade, which helped fuel a more than two-decades-long civil war. 

Kevin Bogardus

Gill joins Venable 

Gregory Gill, a top appropriations lobbyist, is leaving Cassidy & Associates to join Venable .

A Venable press release called Gill a leading lobbyist “with a knack for securing government appropriations.” It also noted his efforts to update U.S. rules relating to conflict diamonds.

Before becoming a lobbyist, Gill served for five years as legislative director to then-House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).