HATCH USES DRUG FIRM'S PRIVATE JET

(Washington-AP)-- Sen. Orrin Hatch, who has sympathized with voters over
the cost of prescription drugs, has used a private jet owned by a
pharmaceutical corporation to travel around the country in his campaign for
the GOP presidential nomination.

The company, Schering-Plough Corp. of New Jersey, is fighting to keep
a popular allergy pill from being cloned by generic drugmakers, an
issue scheduled for a vote Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary
Committee, which Hatch (R-Utah) heads.

The price of the prescription drug, Claritin, is so high--up to $2.66
per daily tablet--that some health insurance companies no longer pay
for it. Generic drugmakers say they can sell it for a quarter of the
cost.

Schering-Plough argues that its patent for Claritin should be extended
two years beyond its 2002 expiration date because of the amount of
time the government took to approve the drug.

Last week, Hatch told his committee members that he "basically favors"
legislation that would allow the company and several other drugmakers
to argue their case before a special patent body.

The outcome of the bill has huge financial implications for
Schering-Plough.

Last year alone, Claritin's sales totaled $1.9 billion.

Hatch sees no conflict of interest in using the Schering-Plough jet,
which he used for five campaign trips. The practice is allowed by
election law under certain circumstances.

"The fact that an owner of a plane may have something pending before
the Congress does not affect the decisions that are made," said Ron
Rogers, a campaign spokesman for the Utah senator. "There are rules
for the use of private planes and we adhere to those rules."

Schering-Plough denied it is allowing Hatch to use its plane to
ingratiate itself to a key policymaker.

On the stump, Hatch has cast himself as a leader in the battle for
affordable prescription drugs.

At a forum in Dover, N.H., he said the 1984 generic-drug law he helped
draft had "knocked the cost of drugs down by 50 percent, so that
senior citizens would not have to give up food in order to have their
pharmaceuticals."

Federal election rules allow candidates to use private planes so long
as they reimburse the owner the same amount as the cost of a
first-class airline ticket to the same destination.

According to Hatch's most recent campaign finance report, he paid
Schering-Plough $15,137 for use of the plane by him and his staff five
times between July and September.

The reimbursement is far less than the operating cost of a $28 million
Gulfstream G-IV like Schering-Plough's. Just gas, oil and maintenance
costs around $1,800 per hour, not counting the pilots. A company that
sells G-IVs on a timeshare basis charges $2,890 for each hour the
plane is occupied.