WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, introduced two bipartisan bills to reduce drug prices by promoting competition and taking on drug company anti-competitive settlements and sham Food and Drug Administration (FDA) petitions. The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act and the Stop Significant and Time-wasting Abuse Limiting Legitimate Innovation of New Generics (Stop STALLING) Act were passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2023.
“The shady efforts of some drug companies to block competition and keep drug costs high are greedy and wrong. Across the country, consumers are suffering because of it. Our bipartisan bills will help tackle these abuses and make prescription drugs more affordable for Americans. I encourage my colleagues to support these commonsense bills,” said Grassley.
“Prescription drug prices are too high—driven up by excessive consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry and abusive business tactics that keep more affordable medications off the market and out of reach for far too many Americans. Our bipartisan legislation would deter anticompetitive deals and sham petitions that prevent generic drugs from entering the market and prevent Americans from accessing affordable, life-saving drugs,” Klobuchar said.
The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act:
This legislation would limit anticompetitive “pay-for-delay” deals that prevent or delay the introduction of affordable generic drugs that are 80 percent cheaper than their branded counterparts, on average.
Pay-for-delay deals happen when branded pharmaceutical drug companies pay generic manufacturers to delay the introduction of cheaper substitutes – increasing the cost of prescriptions and imposing significant costs on our health care system. The legislation covers pay-for-delay deals affecting biosimilar and interchangeable biologics in addition to generic drugs.
Additional cosponsors are Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), committee members Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), along with Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
This legislation would deter branded pharmaceutical companies from filing sham “citizen petitions” with the FDA in order to interfere with the approval of generic and biosimilar medicines that compete with their own brand products, a tactic that delays patient access to affordable medications. The bill would also give the Federal Trade Commission enhanced authority to act against those who file sham petitions.
Additional cosponsors are Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and committee members Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
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