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GPhA Statement on Senate Health Care Reform Bill

The following is a statement from Kathleen Jaeger, President and CEO of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA), on the Senate passage of health care reform legislation:

“The bill passed by the Senate, unfortunately, amounts to a treasure trove to brand drug companies who stand to make enormous profits from health care reform – putting brand drug profits over patients. This bill is a missed opportunity to expand access to affordable medicine while also reducing drug costs. This bill is no holiday present to American consumers.

With generics saving the health care system one billion dollars every three days, Congress should be looking at increasing, not decreasing, access to safe, effective and affordable generic and biogeneric medicines. Real reform should bend the pharmaceutical cost curve in the right direction. Yet, as it stands, brand drug companies are poised to receive gold nuggets in their stockings, whereas consumers are about to get a handful of coal."

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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