The Hill- Creates Act will bring lower priced prescription drugs to market for hardworking Americans

By David N. Cicilline and Tom Marino

Soaring prescription drug costs are a life-threatening concern for Americans across the country.

Prices for medicine have skyrocketed in the past few years, rising by 10 percent every year.

And because Medicare pays for most Americans' care, these costs directly affect government spending, costing American taxpayers billions of dollars every year.
It's time to fix this mess.

That's why we have introduced the Creates Act, a commonsense bill to reduce prescription prices for hardworking Americans.

In a speech from the Rose Garden in May, President Trump announced a new blueprint to get tough on drug makers that choke out competition and policies that shield unfair monopolies.

The Creates Act is this solution. This bipartisan legislation will aggressively lower drug prices through generic competition while ensuring that the relevant safety protocols are in place for new generic drugs.

Reports by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) show that generic competition saves Americans billions of dollars every year by reducing the price of branded drugs by more than 85 percent.

But some branded drug companies have blocked generic competitors from entering the market through delay tactics designed to keep prescription drugs prices artificially high. One of these abusive tactics is preventing generic competitors from purchasing samples at fair market rates to conduct the safety testing that is necessary to enter the market once a branded drug company's patent expires.

In May, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D reported that there have been 164 reports of generic drug makers requesting assistance from the FDA because of these delay tactics. The FDA also published two draft guidance documents to help ensure generic drug makers get through the development and approval processes more efficiently for drugs that have heightened safety requirements.

We applaud this first step to implement the president's blueprint to lower drug prices. But we must do much more.

The Creates Act is a real solution to end abusive conduct by brand pharmaceutical companies.

Our legislation will save American taxpayers $3.8 billion over 10 years through savings to Medicare and Medicaid, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, and result in billions in additional savings for American families.

This bipartisan, bicameral legislation is supported by a broad group of U.S. senators, including its lead sponsors Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). The bill was just overwhelmingly voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 15-6. Creates is also backed by a diverse coalition of health care providers, patient groups, and public-interest organizations across the political spectrum, including AARP, FreedomWorks, and Public Citizen, among more than 80 others.

President Trump has made it a priority of his administration to lower drug costs for all Americans by taking on conduct that impedes competition. The Creates Act accomplishes this goal.

We call on the president and all of our colleagues to support the Creates Act and bring lower priced prescription drugs to market for hardworking Americans.

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