Welcome to the Week in Review.

PREVAIL Act Narrowly Clears Senate Judiciary Committee

After several delays, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to pass S. 2220, the PREVAIL Act, by a razor-thin bipartisan margin of 11 yays to 10 nays. Drawing concerns from patients and public health advocates alike, this patent bill would be detrimental if enacted into law and would weaken critical mechanisms to challenge potentially invalid patents and strengthen anti-competitive tactics wielded by drug manufacturers to block generic and biosimilar competition. The bill’s narrow committee vote, coupled with significant reservations from Senators on both sides of the aisle, suggests limited support for it to advance to the Senate floor. “While amendments made to the legislation in committee attempt to resolve concerns, they barely scratch the surface of fixing the bill’s fundamental flaws,” said P4ADNow Executive Director Merith Basey in a statement issued yesterday. “We urge the full Senate to reject PREVAIL and instead focus on the bipartisan patent reform policies currently in Congress that will increase competition and lower drug prices for all Americans.” — (Inside Health Policy,  IP Watchdog, P4ADNow, Axios)

Continued Push For Competition

With just weeks left in the 118th Congress, momentum continues to build towards advancing the bipartisan Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023 (S. 150), aimed at addressing one of Big Pharma’s key abuses of the patent system. The bill, which unanimously passed the Senate in July, would limit the number of patents a pharmaceutical company can assert on biologic drugs, curbing patent thicketing and bolstering the timely entry of biosimilars into the market. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), this legislation is projected to generate $1.8 billion in savings over ten years, which could serve as a timely bipartisan offset for other critical, must-pass health care priorities as lawmakers consider an end-of-year legislative package. We urge members in the House to continue advancing this cost saving measure as millions of patients nationwide urgently need relief from high drug prices. — (Politico, Axios, Congressional Budget Office)

President-Elect Trump 2025 Appointments

President-Elect Donald Trump has tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Human & Health Services (HHS) and Dr. Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – both unconventional appointments that introduce a level of uncertainty in the future of drug pricing policy. At P4ADNow, we’re committed to working with the new administration to lower prescription drug prices to improve the financial well-being and health of all Americans. Despite nine in 10 American voters believing that lowering drug prices should be an important or top priority of elected officials, the incoming administration has yet to outline concrete steps to address this issue. Our focus however remains the same: we will work with any elected official who champions efforts to lower drug prices for patients, hold accountable those who prioritize Big Pharma’s interests over the American people, and emphasize to the incoming administration that lowering drug prices is essential to making America healthy again. — (Becker’s Hospital Review, Reuters)

ICYMI

Listen to P4AD’s Merith Basey on WPFW-FM discuss how Black and Latino patients are disproportionately harmed by high drug prices, and face more difficulty affording their medicines. Given that Black and Latino patients are more likely to be affected by chronic conditions, including diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, Big Pharma’s relentless price hikes exacerbate existing health disparities within these communities and lead to patients disproportionally rationing or forgoing their essential medicines altogether. 

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