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GPhA Statement on House Passage of Health Reform Bill

March 21, 2010, Washington, D.C…The Generic Pharmaceutical Association today released the following statement by GPhA President and CEO Kathleen Jaeger on House passage of the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010:

“Today’s passage of health-care reform in the House provides both good and bad news for consumers. The good news is that more Americans will have health-care coverage and more seniors will have access to generic medicines, thanks to a fix to the so-called doughnut hole. GPhA is pleased that the House has taken these steps to close the Medicare drug coverage gap and has eliminated the patent settlement provision that would have had the unintended consequence of delaying generic access.

“The bad news is that the bill provides a biogeneric pathway in name only, giving false hope to patients who desperately need access to life-saving biogeneric medicines. Simply put, the bill fails to infuse competition and choice into the health-care system due to the excessive and unprecedented market exclusivity protections for the brand industry. Until the brand evergreen loophole is closed and the indefinite brand biologic monopolies are addressed, our health-care system will not see true savings from biogenerics for decades. This is a very unfortunate missed opportunity that poses significant exposure to the sustainability of private and public pharmaceutical coverage programs. With so many Americans denied access, GPhA is committed to opening up this market to achieve timely consumer access to affordable biogeneric medicines. In sum, while FDA has been given the flexibility to create a workable biogenerics approval pathway, the fact is that the brand market exclusivity protections in this bill – which supplement the robust, rich patent protection of these brand biologics -- will keep affordable biogeneric medicines from patients for decades to come.”

GPhA represents the manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceuticals, manufacturers and distributors of bulk active chemicals and suppliers of other goods and services to the generic drug industry. Generics represent 74 percent of the total prescriptions dispensed in the United States but only 22 percent of all dollars spent on prescription drugs. For more information about the industry, visit www.gphaonline.org.

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