Bills to lower drug costs, increase competition clear Senate committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee today passed four bills aimed at lowering prescription drug costs and increasing competition.

• The Stop Significant and Time-wasting Abuse Limiting Legitimate Innovation of New Generics Act (S. 1224) would make it illegal for drug makers to use “sham” citizen petitions to delay or keep low-cost generic competitors off the market.
•  The Prescription Pricing for the People Act (S. 1227) would require the Federal Trade Commission to study the role of intermediaries in the pharmaceutical supply chain and provide Congress with appropriate policy recommendations.
•  The Preserving Access to Cost Effective Drugs Act (S. 440) would prohibit patent owners from asserting sovereign immunity as a defense in certain actions before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to prevent production of generic medications.
•  The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act (S. 1416) would amend the FTC Act to prohibit anticompetitive behaviors by drug product manufacturers, among other provisions. 

These bills could be combined with drug pricing proposals from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Senate Finance Committee.