New Bill Aims to Combat Price Hikes

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill aimed at stopping branded drugmakers from stifling generic competition.

The Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act would give generic drug manufacturers a way to seek injunctive relief against a branded competitor that engages in delaying tactics. Tactics targeted in the bill include preventing potential generic competitors from obtaining samples of the branded medicine, as well the use of a Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy that disallows generic competitors from participating in that safety protocol.

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association praised the legislation, writing in a letter to the senators that the bill “would provide a clear solution to abusive, anticompetitive business practices that increase costs to the American healthcare system by impeding patient access to generic medicines.”