Washington, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA) introduced H.R. 2375, the bipartisan Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act. This legislation strengthens the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ability to challenge settlement agreements between large brand drug companies and generic drug companies in court, which will help lower prescription drug prices for Americans. The legislation will be marked up in the House Judiciary Committee on April 30, 2019. 

“I’m proud to introduce the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act which prohibits settlement agreements where a branded drug firm pays a potential generic competitor to abandon a patent challenge and delay entering the market with a lower-cost generic product,” said Chairman Nadler. “This legislation addresses the critical need to lower the soaring cost of prescription drugs, which is jeopardizing the health and well-being of millions of American patients. I look forward to moving this bipartisan bill out of the Judiciary Committee and to the House floor very quickly.”

“Drug companies use pay-for-delay agreements to make the marketplace less competitive and less innovative,” said Collins. “By ensuring companies can’t employ these tactics to discourage competition, the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act would expand patient choice and lower prescription costs.”

Pay-for-delay agreements prevent access to more affordable generic and biosimilar drugs, costing consumers and the government billions of dollars in higher drug costs. By establishing that pay-for-delay agreements are illegal under the antitrust laws, the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act will lower drug prices by ending agreements that keep lower-priced generics from entering the market.  The Senate companion bill, S. 64, the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act,  was introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), together with Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) as original cosponsors on January 9, 2019.

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