46 Signatories Applaud Grassley & Feinstein for CREATES Act Markup

46 organizations today applauded Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein for scheduling a markup of the bipartisan, bicameral Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act.  Senators Grassley, Feinstein, Leahy, and their 24 bipartisan Senate colleagues who have co-sponsored the CREATES Act deserve credit for their leadership on the critical issue of reining-in out-of-control prescription drug prices. 

This coalition of signatories represents a broad-based and diverse cross-section of stakeholders – including patients and payers, physicians and consumers, progressives and conservatives, businesses and unions – all of whom have come together in strong support of this important legislation.

The letter reads, in part:

We, the undersigned, commend you for your leadership and commitment to reducing out-of-control prescription drug prices and stopping anti-competitive abuses that keep drug prices high.  We are encouraged that the Senate Judiciary Committee has noticed a markup of the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act (S. 974). We thank you for your efforts to move this important piece of legislation through the Committee.

…

The CREATES Act is a bipartisan, market-based reform that will speed the introduction of generic and biosimilar competition for brand-name drugs. It is a highly-targeted remedy that will end the anticompetitive abuses utilized by some brand-name manufacturers, help restore the balance between innovation and affordability that Congress intended, and achieve the goal of more affordable prescription drugs. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that enacting the CREATES Act would save $3.8 billion over ten years.

Read the full letter here, and the complete list of signatories is below:

AARP

AFL-CIO

Alliance for Retired Americans

Alliance of Community Health Plans

America’s Health Insurance Plans

America’s Physician Groups

American College of Physicians

American Consumer Institute

American Hospital Association

American Gastroenterological Association

ASHP (American Society of Health System Pharmacists)

Anthem

Ascension

Association for Accessible Medicines

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Blue Shield of California

Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing

Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund

Chronic Illness Advocacy & Awareness Group

Coalition to Reduce Federal Spending

Colorado Consumer Health Initiative

Consumers Union

CVS Health

Doctors for America

Express Scripts

Families USA

Federation of American Hospitals

FreedomWorks

Greater New York Hospital Association

Healthcare Supply Chain Association

Kaiser Permanente

Knowledge Ecology International

National Coalition on Health Care

National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

National Physicians Alliance

Patients for Affordable Drugs

People of Faith for Access to Medicines

Pharmaceutical Care Management Association

Premier Healthcare Alliance

Prime Therapeutics

Public Citizen

Social Security Works

Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut

Vizient