Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW Steps Up Push For Competition to Lower Drug Prices Including Six-Figure Ad Campaign
Ads, Letters, Lobby Day in Coming Weeks Urge Congress To Pass Bills To Boost Competition and Reform Patent Law To Lower Drug Prices
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now (P4ADNow) has launched a six-figure ad campaign to urge Congress to pass a package of bipartisan bills that crack down on the drug industry’s anti-competitive practices in order to lower prescription drug prices for patients. The ads are the latest effort in P4ADNow’s continued “Push For Competition To Lower Drug Prices”, focusing on reforming patent laws and closing regulatory loopholes to promote generic and biosimilar competition and curbing anti-competitive tactics that allow drug companies to keep prices high by extending unwarranted monopolies on life-saving medications.
The campaign, which includes a combination of video, audio, and static ads, are running on digital and social media platforms and features Lisa McRipley, a patient with multiple sclerosis (MS), whose vital medications have a price of nearly $7,500 each month, and Jacqueline Garibay, a patient who lives with ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disorder, and has had to go without her medication at times because of the $6,000 per month cost. View Lisa’s ad here.
“Patients like Lisa and Jacqueline are struggling to afford the medications they depend on because drug companies have been manipulating the patent system for decades to maintain their monopoly power and keep prices high,” said Merith Basey, Executive Director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Legislators can act during this Congress to pass this package of bipartisan legislation to increase competition and curb pharma’s abusive practices to ensure that affordable generics and biosimilars can enter the market, lower prices, and begin to bring overdue relief to patients.
“Lowering drug prices isn’t just a policy priority – it’s a public mandate. Patients, consumers, and taxpayers are calling for action – with 9 in 10 voters saying Congress should prioritize policies to lower drug prices. Congress has the power and the bipartisan support to pass these competition bills and make medications more affordable for all Americans. It’s high time we curb drug companies’ abusive practices – Congress can get it done this year.”
Anti-competitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry including patent thicketing, pay-for-delay agreements, and product hopping, have led to inflated drug prices, costing patients and taxpayers billions. When generic or biosimilar versions enter the market, prices can fall dramatically – by nearly 40 percent when there is one additional competitor and 85-95 percent when there are six or more competitors.
In 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed several bipartisan bills to improve competition in the prescription drug market and in July this year, the Senate unanimously passed the amended Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023 (S.150) – which targeted the pharmaceutical industry’s use of patent thickets.
The House now has the chance to build on that momentum. By advancing additional bipartisan competition bills, including H.R. 9070 and H.R. 6986, Congress can bring relief to patients like Lisa, Jacqueline, and millions of others burdened by excessive drug costs. These bills are projected to save taxpayers more than $4.5 billion over the next ten years.
BACKGROUND
- P4AD is urging action on the following bipartisan bills in the House: H.R. 6986 to address patent thickets; H.R. 9070, the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act; H.R. 1717, the Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act; and, H.R. 5429, the Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act.
- P4AD is urging action on the following bipartisan bills in the Senate: S. 142, to ban pay-for-delay agreements; S. 148 and S. 1067, to reform the citizen petition process; and S. 79 to establish a task force between USPTO and FDA in order to improve communication in the implementation of each agency’s patent-related activities.
- Last week, a group of national organizations representing patients, seniors, and employers sent a letter to members of the House Judiciary Committee calling for urgent action on these bills. The letter was signed by Patients for Affordable Drugs Now, AARP, the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP), the ERISA Industry Committee, the Purchaser Business Group on Health, and the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society.
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Patients for Affordable Drugs NOW, is the only national, bipartisan patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies to lower drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients and allies, hold accountable those in power, and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4ADNOW does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs. To learn more visit PatientsForAffordableDrugsNOW.org.