The bill, designed to save consumers $60 billion dollars over the next 10 years, passed the Senate July 31st by a vote of 78-21. The bill will close loopholes in drug patent laws, preserve initiatives for innovation, and encourage robust competition in the marketplace.
"Too many pharmaceutical companies have maximized their profits at the expense of consumers by filing patents that have delayed access to lower priced generic drugs," said Senator Collins. "Currently, brand-name companies can delay a generic drug from going to market for years. A new patent for an existing drug can be awarded for merely changing the color of a pill or its packaging.
"According to a Federal Trade Commission report brand-name drug manufacturers have misused legal loopholes to delay the entry of lower-cost generics into the market. The FTC found these tactics have lead to delays of between four and 40 months."
Recent state and federal lawsuits, and antitrust enforcement action taken by the Federal Trade Commission, all confirm that abuses of the Hatch-Waxman Act by both brand and generic pharmaceutical companies have thwarted market competition and cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars by delaying access to lower-priced generic drugs.
GAAP has been endorsed by several State Attorneys General, over two dozen individual organizations and corporations and coalitions of governors, major employers, insurers and other purchasers of prescription drugs.