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GPhA Applauds Congress for Ensuring FDA and OGD Remain Fully Funded in 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NOV. 18, 2011) – The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) today commended the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for their passage of legislation that ensures the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) will remain fully funded throughout fiscal year 2012.

“With lawmakers across the country under tremendous pressure to cut costs and reduce spending across the board, it is truly admirable to see Congress recognize the vital importance of a fully funded FDA and move to put patients first,” Ralph G. Neas, President and CEO of GPhA, said. “Today, the use of safe and effective generic prescription drugs is saving consumers and the U.S. health care system more than $3 billion every week. The funding levels adopted by Congress will reap significant dividends by ensuring that the FDA and OGD continue to receive the resources they desperately need as they work to provide Americans with safe, effective and affordable generic medicines.”

GPhA has long maintained that deep cuts in FDA’s budget could further encumber the timely approval of generic medicines, which have proven to provide savings for the federal government and the health care system as a whole.

A recently released economic analysis of U.S. generic drug usage — developed independently by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics and IMS Health — found that the use of generic prescription drugs has yielded $931 billion in national health expenditure savings over the past 10 years. In 2010, generics saved consumers and the U.S. health care system $158 billion — a savings of more than $3 billion every week.

“The sustainability of our health care system, including vital programs like Medicaid and Medicare, is absolutely dependent on the savings generated through the use of generic drugs,” Neas said. “With this critical support, Congress has provided consumers and the government an enormous return on investment and helped to ensure that patients across the country continue to have access to the lifesaving generic medicines they need at prices they can afford.”

GPhA represents the manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceuticals, manufacturers and distributors of bulk pharmaceutical chemicals, and suppliers of other goods and services to the generic industry. Generic pharmaceuticals fill 78 percent of the prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. but consume just 25 percent of the total drug spending. Additional information is available at gphaonline.org.

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