Contact: Ari Geller
202 244-8657

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for holding this hearing. This is a very important issue for consumers of prescription drugs in this country. It goes to the integrity of our antitrust laws and the Hatch-Waxman Act, which I know you feel very strongly about.

There is mounting evidence that drug companies are attempting to deprive consumers of the option of less expensive generic drugs by paying those companies to delay development or sales of competing drugs. The beauty of Sen. Leahy’s bill, which I am proud to cosponsor, is that it doesn’t change the substantive law in any way. It doesn’t modify the Hatch-Waxman Act, or the antitrust laws, or reach any judgment about whether a particular agreement violates those statutes. It simply requires that agreements between brand name manufacturers and potential generic competitors that could limit the research, development, manufacture or marketing of a competing generic drug be provided to the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice within 10 days of signing. It is my understanding that the agreements will remain confidential so there is no argument that companies will be forced to release trade secrets.

I believe this simple step of throwing some sunshine on these agreements will be a significant deterrent to anti-competitive agreements. It will allow the FTC and DOJ to determine whether the agreements violate the antitrust laws or the Hatch-Waxman Act. And it will ultimately lead to lower prices for consumers.

I hope today’s testimony will shed some light on the kinds of agreements that might be exposed by this bill, and how this bill will assist the antitrust enforcement agencies to protect the public. And I hope that after the hearing, the Committee will move expeditiously to mark the bill up and send it to the Senate floor. This is a rare instance where the Congress can save consumers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars through simple, commonsense, legislation that poses no possibility of financial harm to law abiding drug companies.

Again, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing and beginning the process of enacting this legislation. And I congratulate Sen. Leahy and Sen. Kohl for this bill. I am proud to support it.

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