Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) today released a statement after the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee advanced a series of bipartisan drug pricing measures, including the CREATES Act, Purple Book Continuity Act of 2019, Orange Book Transparency Act of 2019 and Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2019:
“The bipartisan advancement of these important measures signals a major victory for Americans patients is on the horizon,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “We applaud members of the Energy & Commerce Committee for their leadership in advancing the CREATES Act, Purple Book Continuity Act of 2019, Orange Book Transparency Act of 2019 and Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2019 and encourage House leaders to swiftly bring the measures to the floor for a vote. We also commend the administration for supporting the CREATES Act and the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2019, also known as pay-for-delay.”
“While much more needs to be done to tackle the crisis of prescription drug prices, the passage of these bipartisan, market-based solutions will mark major progress and begin delivering relief for millions of patients by promoting competition,” Aronson continued. “A turning point has been reached where the American people are demanding Congress take action to crack down on Big Pharma’s anti-competitive tactics that hike prices — and lawmakers, from both parties, are responding with action.”
These important, market-based measures garnered the votes and vocal support of key leaders from both parties on the committee, signaling the bills have bipartisan momentum to continue to advance and pass into law.
Rep. Pallone (D-NJ), U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman: “The first group of bills will lower the cost of prescription drugs by removing barriers and loopholes that prevent cheaper generic drugs from coming to market. And we know that one of the most effective ways to lower drug costs is to ensure that consumers have access to generic drugs and that’s exactly what these bills are intended to do.”
Rep. Walden (R-OR), U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member: “At the outset, I do want to thank the committee leadership for working with us on a number of the drug pricing bills that we will take up today. We needed to ensure these bills did not intentionally stifle competition and drive up drug costs by accident. I am pleased that we were able to work together since the subcommittee markup to come to agreements on the CREATES Act and Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act. And I understand we’ve worked towards a compromise on the Orange Book Transparency Act as well. So, we appreciate that work.”
Rep. Eshoo (D-CA), U.S. House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair: “From the Health Subcommittee, I’m proud that we were able to markup 12 bills, six that very directly deal with the high price of prescription drugs. Some of them were bipartisan.”
Rep. Burgess (R-TX), U.S. House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee Ranking Member: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I do appreciate that we’ve been able to work together on a number of the bills before us today. I want to thank Chairwoman Eshoo’s willingness to accept input from stakeholders in the Food and Drug Administration. The Purple Book Continuity Act of 2019 is now in the place where it will make this list of large molecule complex drugs more useful. I look forward to partnering with the chairwoman in her efforts to improve the Purple Book and advancing that legislation today. While we still have a fair number of disagreements on some of these bills, and obviously plan to offer some amendments, I am glad that we found some common ground on legislation to address drug pricing and increased access to generics. Patients across America are struggling to pay for medications that they literally cannot live without. Access to generics and biosimilars play an important role in driving competition in the market and lowering prices, and the bills before us today will help move towards that goal.”
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