CSRxP Applauds HELP Committee for Taking Up Bipartisan CREATES Act

Encourages Senate Panel to Further Strengthen Drug Price Package with REMEDY and FAIR Drug Pricing Acts

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) issued a statement today ahead of a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee legislative markup of its drug pricing package, the “Lower Health Care Costs Act,” on Wednesday.

“Senators on the HELP Committee have a tremendous opportunity to hold Big Pharma accountable and deliver relief for patients by strengthening their drug pricing package,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “We applaud Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray for including the bipartisan CREATES Act in the manager’s amendment for this package. We also support efforts to add the REMEDY and FAIR Drug Pricing Acts during the amendment process. These critical, bipartisan measures will boost competition, increase transparency and crack down on Big Pharma’s anti-competitive tactics.”

The Creating and Restoring Equal Access To Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act would crack down on REMS abuse, an anti-competitive tactic employed by Big Pharma to deny generic manufacturers access to samples of brand name drugs needed to complete U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing. The CREATES Act was passed by the House in May after winning broad bipartisan support advancing through the committee process. The measure was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and has an additional 30 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle and representing every region of the country.

The Reforming Evergreening and Manipulation that Extends Drug Years (REMEDY) Act targets legal loopholes Big Pharma employs to abuse the patent system and allow more generic and biosimilar drugs to safely enter the market more quickly. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) and has been co-sponsored by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Tina Smith (D-MN).

The FAIR Drug Pricing Act will require drug companies to justify substantial or rapid list price hikes, adding an important layer of transparency and accountability to Big Pharma and providing a deterrent to price gouging. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Mike Braun (R-ID) and has been co-sponsored by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Tina Smith (D-MN).