CSRXP: PHARMA-BACKED PERA AND PREVAIL ACT WOULD FURTHER ENABLE PATENT ABUSE, UNDERMINE BIPARTISAN PROGRESS TOWARD GREATER COMPETITION

Lawmakers Should Focus on Market-Based Solutions That Hold Big Pharma Accountable for Anti-Competitive Tactics That Extend Monopolies and Keep Drug Prices High

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released a statement Thursday on the reintroduction of two bills, The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) and The Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act (PREVAIL Act) in the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

“Big Pharma’s egregious abuse of the U.S. patent system allows brand name drug manufacturers to continually hike prices on their best-selling products, block competition from lower-cost alternatives and set increasingly high launch prices on new products entering the market, often outpacing the current rate of inflation,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “We respectfully urge lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to reject these proposals, backed by the pharmaceutical industry, that would further enable Big Pharma to game the patent system to extend monopoly pricing on blockbuster products.”

“These misguided proposals would undermine the Committee’s positive bipartisan work on market-based solutions to lower prescription drug prices for patients by fostering greater competition from more affordable alternatives, like generics and biosimilars,” Aronson added. “We encourage lawmakers to focus on lowering prescription drug prices for the American people by holding Big Pharma accountable and reject pharma-backed proposals that would further enable brand name drug companies to block competition and keep prices high.”

The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) would significantly broaden the scope of what is patentable in the United States and result in brand-name pharmaceutical companies being able to gain exclusive rights to what the Supreme Court has recognized as products of nature or naturally occurring phenomena. When one then considers brand Big Pharma’s ability to build patent thickets on its blockbuster products, it is easy to see that patients will be harmed in the form of higher drug prices should PERA be enacted.

The Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act (PREVAIL Act) would undermine the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) capacity to review patentability claims, weaken the inter partes review process, and strengthen brand-name pharmaceutical companies’ ability to extend monopoly protections. The PREVAIL Act would inevitably result in patients paying the high cost of brand-name prescription drugs for longer than even occurs today.

Read more on how Big Pharma’s patent abuse is the root cause of high prescription drug prices HERE.

Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.