WASHINGTON, February 8, 2023 – The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) urged members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in a letter to vote in favor of several bills which would improve transparency, promote competition, and prohibit practices that discourage affordability within the prescription drug market.
“If we want prescription drugs to be affordable, there needs to be a functioning market, with transparency and competition. Gimmicks that lead to endless monopoly pricing prevent markets from functioning. The Judiciary Committee should advance this legislation, to make drug markets work and to end some of the current gimmicks,” said James Gelfand, President of ERIC. “These bills will lower drug costs, encourage transparency and competition, and empower employers and their vendors to negotiate better deals for patients.”
Specifically, ERIC called on Senators to vote “yes” on the following bills:
- Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2023 (S. 79) establishes an interagency task force between the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Food and Drug Administration for purposes of sharing information and providing technical assistance with respect to patents for drugs and biological products.
- Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act (S. 142) prohibits brand name drug companies from compensating generic drug companies to delay the entry of a generic drug into the market, also known as “pay for delay.”
- Stop STALLING Act (S. 148) enables the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to deter filing of sham citizen petitions to cover an attempt to interfere with approval of a competing generic drug or biosimilar.
- Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023 (S. 150) would end so-called “patent thickets” and “patent evergreening” by enforcing the intent of Congress, which provided a time-limited market exclusivity for branded prescription drugs, before allowing market competition from generic and biosimilar alternatives.
In addition, since the FTC is presently studying the role of intermediaries in the pharmaceutical supply chain and will likely issue new rules or policy recommendations accordingly, ERIC is not currently taking a position on the Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023 (S. 113).
Click HERE to read ERIC’s letter to Congress.