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GPhA Asks President Obama to Urge Congress to Strike Biogenerics from Health Care Reform if Provisions Are Not Substantially Altered

Washington, D.C. – In a letter sent to President Obama, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) today called upon the President to “urge congressional leaders to strike the biogeneric language from pending health care reform legislation unless the provisions are materially altered to ensure timely entry of safe and affordable biosimilars and biogenerics to the market. The inclusion of the current fatally flawed language is arguably worse than the effective monopoly that the biotech industry enjoys because it represents an empty promise to Americans who may falsely believe that the legislation will provide for meaningful competition. This simply will not increase access or contain drug spending costs; rather, it represents little more than camouflaged protection of the unacceptable and unsustainable status quo.”

The letter notes that both the House and Senate health care reform bills contain language that would give a minimum of 12 years of market exclusivity to brand biologics. This unwarranted and excessive exclusivity period is in contrast to the White House’s recommendation of a seven-year period and the findings of the Federal Trade Commission with respect to market exclusivity and incentives to innovate new medicines.

GPhA thanked the President for his ongoing leadership on biogenerics and asked that he continue to work to ensure a pathway that actually gets affordable medicines to patients suffering from deadly illnesses.

In commenting on the issue, Jaeger stated that “as have been frequently reported, most recently in the Time Magazine article last week, initially, and ironically, the brand drug industry was adamantly opposed biogeneric legislation. But rather than continue to oppose, they used their political weight and largesse to convince many members of Congress to essentially codify their monopolies. Any bill that delivers an empty promise to patients seeking access to affordable biogenerics while bestowing one of the biggest windfalls to the brand/bio pharmaceutical industry in twenty five years clearly contradicts the fundamental tenets of health care reform.”

GPhA represents the manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceuticals, manufacturers and distributors of bulk active pharmaceutical chemicals, and suppliers of other goods and services to the generic drug industry. Generics represent 72% of the total prescriptions dispensed in the United States, but only 17% of all dollars spent on prescription drugs. For more information about the industry, visit www.gphaonline.org.

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