Hearing of the House Judiciary Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Collins, Markup on H.R. 2374, the Stop Significant Time-wasting Abuse Limiting Legitimate Innovation (Stop STALLING) Act.

Hearing

I thank Mr. Jeffries and Subcommittee Ranking Member Sensenbrenner for their bipartisan work on this legislation.

When used appropriately, citizen petitions filed with the Food and Drug Administration allow all Americans to raise legitimate health and safety concerns about prescription drugs proposed for FDA approval.

But for too long, drug manufacturers have been allowed to game the system by submitting numerous or baseless, bogus petitions simply so the FDA will delay competing manufacturers' approvals. As long as the FDA is tied up reviewing petitions, the original manufacturer is shielded from competition -- and consumer drug prices remain high.

Recently, the Third Circuit's decision in FTC v. Shire ViroPharma made it harder for the Federal Trade Commission to use antitrust enforcement to stop this anticompetitive behavior.

The Stop STALLING Act is sound, bipartisan legislation to make sure that the FTC has effective authority to act against sham petitions. While preserving the rights of citizens to bring legitimate health and safety concerns to the FDA, the Stop STALLING Act should stop in their tracks drug manufacturers that seek only to file baseless petitions to keep competitors off the market and prevent consumers from accessing lower cost alternative medications.

I am an original cosponsor of this bill, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it as well.

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