On September 24, President Ronald Reagan signed the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act. Better known by the name of its two sponsors, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Hatch-Waxman Amendments gave rise to the modern generic pharmaceutical industry as we know it.
“Fact is,” the president said, “it's estimated that consumers will save more than a billion dollars over the next 10 years.” This savings turned out to be much larger and have continued to grow since then. Last year, according to AAM’s Access & Savings Report, generic savings for consumers and the U.S. health care system totaled $293 billion, and the 2008-18 savings hit $2 trillion. These are the savings realized by patients taking lower-priced generics instead of the equivalent brand medicine.
Learn more about savings from generic medicines at http://rxaccessreport.org.