New laws could ease drug costs
Bipartisan legislation filed by House and Senate lawmakers this year could help to promote the production of generic drugs, impose regulations on high rebate pricing and allow officials to declare an emergency to manufacture drugs.
Bills and proposal in the works include:
The Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act (CREATES) sponsored by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont:
•Deters drug companies from blocking cheaper generics from entering the market
•Encourages competition in the market through the manufacture of generics
•Lowers federal spending on prescription drugs by $3.9 billion over a decade
•Allows manufacturers of generics to obtain samples of branded products
•Requires all safety protocols to be approved by the FDA
Trump administration proposal to lower drug costs:
•Changes discount safe harbor to pass savings directly to patients
•Ends backdoor deals and brings transparency to the market
•Identifies legitimate and beneficial payment practices
•Requires television advertisements for prescription drugs to disclose the drug’s list price
•Investigates measures in place that restrict the use of rebates
Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act, sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois:
•Establishes an Office of Drug Manufacturing within the Department of Health and Human Services that lowers prices, increases competition and addresses shortages
•Allows the government to sell publicly manufactured drugs at a fair price
•Requires the public production of insulin to begin within one year
•Improves the ability of new companies to enter the generic drug market
•Requires the government to offer to sell the rights to publicly manufactured drugs to manufacturers who commit to keep the drug on the market at a fair price