ICYMI: CBO FINDS HOLDING BIG PHARMA ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANTI-COMPETITIVE TACTICS WOULD SAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

Scoring Shows Solutions to Crack Down on Branded Drug Companies’ Anti-Competitive Tactics Would Save Consumers Billions and Bring More Affordable Alternatives to Market

In case you missed it, on Tuesday the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released new scores that found three patent reform bills targeting Big Pharma’s anti-competitive behavior would deliver significant savings for taxpayers and patients. According to reporting from Inside Health Policy, the three bills combined, “would reduce the deficit by $1.9 billion over a decade.”

The three bills recently scored by CBO that target Big Pharma’s anti-competitive practices are:

• The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act (S. 1435), which targets an abusive Big Pharma tactic called “product hopping” used to game the patent system and unfairly extend product monopolies.
• The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act (S. 1428), which would take aim at brand name drug makers who engage in pay-for delay settlements.
• And The Stop Significant and Time-Wasting Abuse Limiting Legitimate Innovation of New Generics (STALLING) Act (S. 1425), which targets Big Pharma abuse of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) citizen petition process to delay generic drug applications.

These scores provide the latest evidence that bipartisan solutions to crack down on Big Pharma’s egregious anti-competitive tactics will deliver significant savings for patients and taxpayers. Lawmakers must take action to swiftly advance these bills, and additional market-based solutions, to hold Big Pharma accountable and lower drug prices for the American people.

Read more about CBO’s scoring of these solutions HERE.

Learn more about the cost of Big Pharma’s patent abuse HERE.

Learn more about solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable and lower prescription drug prices HERE.