Bipartisan Efforts Continue to Rein in Pharma’s Patent Abuses

Lawmakers are renewing bipartisan efforts to rein in anti-competitive practices commonly used by drug manufacturers to delay market entry of lower-cost generic alternatives. Recent legislation introduced in the Senate aims to address patent thickets and product hopping practices. The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act, recently reintroduced by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Dick Durbin (D-IL), would place a reasonable limit on the number of patents a drug manufacturer can contest, preventing patent thickets which delay availability of biosimilar drugs. A similar bill passed the Senate last summer but lost traction in the House.

The senators concurrently introduced the Drug Competition Enhancement Act to prohibit brand drug manufacturers from engaging in product hopping (moving patients from a drug that is about to lose its monopoly status to a reformulated drug that has longer patent protection), making that practice an antitrust violation. 

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) and Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released statements in support of the legislation, applauding the senators’ efforts to prevent drug companies from gaming the patent system to keep drug prices artificially high. Some estimates, including those from the CBO, suggest these measures could save U.S. taxpayers billions if enacted.