In June, PPC Legal Project Director Sharon Treat was honored in Washington, DC, by Progressive States Network for her outstanding contributions to the effort to bring quality affordable health care to all. Treat, a longstanding legislator currently serving in the Maine House of Representatives, has been a key leader in moving policies to reduce prescription drug costs and expand access to lifesaving medications. She was recognized for her innovative health care reforms at the state level, including sponsoring prescription drug quality and access laws, such as legislation banning deceptive marketing practices to seniors, establishing an academic detailing program to educate prescribers on best practices, regulating conflicts of interest and rebates negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers, and establishing the MaineRx Plus discount drug
program. Most recently, she cosponsored legislation to protect minors from pharmaceutical industry predatory marketing practices, which was passed into law in Maine in May. (See Maine's New Predatory Marketing Ban Law Protects Minors.)

Treat was in the nation’s capital as part of a delegation of state leaders urging the Obama Administration and Congress to enact comprehensive health care reform within the year. The delegation met with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Director of the White House Office for Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle, as well as Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and other members of Congress. Expanding access to safe, effective, and affordable prescription drugs and enhancing transparency in pharmaceutical marketing are key aspects of the national debate on health care reform.

In her work on behalf of PPC, Treat is engaged in significant legal activity aimed at assisting policy makers with developing legally sound policies to address prescription drug costs, as well as defending those policies if and when they are challenged in the courts. Such legal work includes collaborative efforts to provide research and expertise, and where appropriate, joining with consumer and health advocacy groups to file “Friend of the Court” legal briefs to defend innovative policies aimed at reducing prescription drug costs and increasing access.

Additional activities on behalf of PPC include Treat’s work with state Attorneys General in cases involving regulation of conflicts of interest of pharmacy benefit managers and the scope of patent protections as they affect drug pricing policies. She has spearheaded PPC’s cosponsorship and participation in major conferences on pharmaceutical legal issues with American University’s Washington College of Law. (See PPC Cosponsors Legal Conference.)

Treat also serves as the Executive Director of the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices (NLARx), a nonpartisan organization of
state legislators working jointly across state lines to reduce prescription drug
prices and expand access. Prior to joining NLARx, Treat served for seven terms in the Maine Legislature, including two as Senate Majority Leader, and, since 2006, as a member of the Maine House of Representatives. She currently serves on the Joint Standing Committee on Insurance and Financial Services. She has an AB degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a law degree with honors from Georgetown University Law Center.