Collins statement on markup of Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act

"The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act would . . .  accelerate the lowering of prescription drug prices in America. . . . [and] prevent anticompetitive settlements that line drug company pockets while consumers pay the bill."

WASHINGTON — Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, made the following opening statement at today's markup of H.R. 2375, the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act. Below are the remarks as prepared. Ranking Member Collins: Thank you, Chairman Nadler, for your leadership in introducing the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act. I am proud to be the lead Republican cosponsor on this important bill. Years ago, when Congress passed the Hatch-Waxman Act, the hope was that it would dramatically help speed the introduction of low-cost, generic alternatives to high-cost, brand-name prescription drugs. At the same, time, it was hoped that the legislation had struck the right balance to preserve healthy incentives for the innovation of new drugs by branded manufacturers. To a degree, those hopes have been realized, but unfortunately, too often, those hopes have been stymied by the use of pay-for-delay settlements. In these often anticompetitive settlements, a generic manufacturer files for FDA approval to produce a generic alternative, the branded manufacturer raises patent litigation in response, and the pay-for-delay settlement buys the peace. The generic manufacturer agrees to delay for a certain time, and the branded manufacturer agrees to pay the generic manufacturer for that delay. There’s a catch – though the situation looks rosy for the two manufacturers, consumers who would benefit from the lower costs of a new generic drug get stuck with limited prescription choices and paying the high costs of the branded drug. That is true even if the threatened patent litigation is not justified. However long the delay endures, higher costs prevail. That’s not right – and it’s part of the reason American consumers still have to pay far too much for prescription drugs. The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act would solve this problem and help lower of prescription drug prices in America. It doesn’t prevent litigants from entering into bona fide, pro-competitive settlements that would help consumers, but it does prevent anticompetitive settlements that line drug company pockets while consumers pay the bill. I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.