Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1269

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Hallam K.
U.S. Senators Agree on Bill to Speed Generic Drugs to Market
Bloomberg News 2004 Jun 5
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a8gdDWSCHy4M&refer=us

Full text:

June 4 (Bloomberg) — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators
agreed on legislation that would speed the introduction of
cheaper, generic medications made by companies such as Barr
Laboratories Inc., according to Senator Edward Kennedy’s office. Under the compromise, brand-name drugmakers that claim patent
infringement can get one 30-month hold on government approvals of
generic products that would compete with theirs. A 1984 law allows
brand-name pharmaceutical companies to get repeated 30-month
delays for such claims, even after the original patents expired. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, plans to introduce the
bill tomorrow in Washington. The measure may benefit generic-drug
makers such as Barr and Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. and hurt sales
at brand-name companies including New York-based Pfizer Inc. and
the U.K.‘s GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world’s top two drugmakers. ``This is a good compromise that will ensure that consumers
have timely access to generic drugs, while preserving protections
for the innovation that brings us new and life-saving products,’‘
Kennedy said in a statement e-mailed by his office. Kennedy’s bill would put a mechanism in place to discourage
financial agreements between generic manufacturers and brand-name
drugmakers to keep cheaper products off the market. Generic drug companies also would have the right to
countersue brand-name companies that allege patent infringement.
Generic companies wouldn’t be able to win monetary awards for
those counterclaims. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
will vote on the measure next week, said an aide to Kennedy, who
is the panel’s senior Democrat. New Hampshire Republican Judd
Gregg, the committee’s chairman, Arizona Republican John McCain
and New York Democrat Charles Schumer are co-sponsoring the bill. The U.S. Senate passed a similar measure written by McCain
and Schumer last year, though it didn’t become law because the
House failed to act. That version would have saved Americans about
$60 billion on drug bills over a decade. Separately, the Senate Finance Committee is finalizing a $400
billion proposal to expand coverage for medicines under Medicare,
the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.