Letter to Director Mulvaney and Secretary Azar - Boost Competition, Save Taxpayer Dollars in the Pharmaceutical Market Following the Prescription Drug Proposals in the President's Budget Request

Letter

Dear Director Mulvaney and Secretary Azar:

As you know, the President's fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget request included proposals intended to reduce prescription drug costs, but we can and must do more to bring prices down for patients and families across the country. Following the President's budget request, we are writing to urge the Administration to support several bipartisan bills currently pending in the U.S. Senate that would boost competition and save taxpayer dollars in the pharmaceutical market.

For example, the Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act would allow individuals to import a 90-day supply of safe, less expensive prescription drugs from an approved Canadian pharmacy -- an idea the President has expressed support for in the past.

We also must stop "pay for delay" deals--where brand-name drug manufacturers use anti-competitive pay-off agreements to keep more affordable generic equivalents off the market. The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act would end this practice and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates it would save $2.9 billion over ten years.

Another way to address anticompetitive practices while saving taxpayer dollars is to deter pharmaceutical companies from blocking cheaper generic alternatives from entering the marketplace by, for example, refusing to provide samples of brand-name medications. The bipartisan Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act would end these anticompetitive practices and reduce the deficit by $3.8 billion over ten years.

We have also seen too many examples of companies hiking prices on older products because there are not approved competitors in the U.S. marketplace. The Short on Competition Act, which also has bipartisan support, would help fix this market distortion by allowing temporary importation from certain countries with high safety and efficacy standards when there is a lack of healthy competition for a medication in the United States.

Finally, there is bipartisan support for addressing the millions of dollars worth of prescription drugs that go to waste each year simply because single-use vials or doses are too large. The Reducing Drug Waste Act would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop a Joint Action Plan to reduce this type drug waste and better manage costs with respect to these vial and dosage sizes.

As you know, there is no one single solution that will solve the problem of skyrocketing prices for prescription drugs. But, if we work together to get these bills passed into law, we can bring down the costs of prescription drugs for Americans.

Sincerely,

Source