Don’t Harm Patient Access To FDA-Approved Generic Medicines By Chilling Generic Drug Competition
Everyone supports containing skyrocketing prescription drug prices, but H.B. 243 is misguided and would actually make the problem worse for Louisiana patients and our economy. The same bill became law in Maryland but was later found unconstitutional.
While well-intentioned, H.B. 243 doesn’t address the real cause of high drug prices, and would penalize FDA-approved generics. Sadly, this disconnect could actually have the perverse effect of raising drug costs in the state. Specifically, the legislation:
- Doesn’t address the real drug price crisis. Inexplicably, the bill totally ignores the expensive Big Pharma drugs that are so hard for patients to afford and costs Louisiana patients billions of dollars. Instead, it applies only to your generic drugs — medicines that saved the state $4.9 Billion in 2016.
- May drive generic alternatives away from Louisiana. This state interference with our free market competition would reduce the competition that leads to affordable prices for patients by inserting state controls that will force manufacturers out of Louisiana.
- Will lead to more lawsuits. The legislation is so vague it fails to provide generic drugmakers the basic certainty they need to know if they are violating the law. Courts are already looking at the constitutionality of this approach after Maryland passed a bill with similar misguided language that its own governor refused to sign.
- Chills drug competition, instead of enhancing it. A better approach to tackling patients’ high drug costs is to increase the competition that has led to falling prices for generics. Year-over-year, generic drug prices fall, while brand name drug prices rise. The overall price of generics fell over 8% in 2016, and generic prices have fallen for 16 straight months and are down over 70% since 2008.
Legislation ensuring these favorable trends continue is the best way to protect patients.
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