WASHINGTON — The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) issued the following statement following the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision today in Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. v. Amarin Pharma, Inc., upholding the viability of skinny labels for generic drug manufacturers.
“Today’s 9-0 decision is a victory for every American worker and employer who relies on access to affordable prescription drugs. The Hatch-Waxman Act’s skinny label framework has served the public interest for over 40 years by increasing access to generic medicines and saving the health care system billions of dollars. This ruling ensures that a single indication-specific patent cannot be weaponized to block lower-cost generics from reaching the patients who need them — and today, the Supreme Court agreed,” said ERIC President and CEO James Gelfand.
ERIC has been a consistent and active voice on this issue throughout. In April 2026, ERIC joined 19 other organizations in urging the House Judiciary Committee to advance the Skinny Labels, Big Savings Act (H.R. 6485) and the ETHIC Act (H.R. 3269) — two bipartisan bills designed to protect the carve-out process and curb duplicative patent abuse. ERIC has closely tracked the Hikma v. Amarin litigation from the outset, and today’s unanimous decision affirms what ERIC has long argued: the skinny label pathway is essential to competition and to controlling costs for the millions of working Americans enrolled in employer-sponsored health plans.