Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, an important bill that will ensure consumers can get the lowest price for their drugs. This bill is also aligned with the bipartisan Biosimilars Competition Act, a bill that I introduced that will shine a light on secret agreements called pay-for-delay deals. Pay-for-delay deals are great deals for the drug companies, but they are bad deals for consumers. Pay-for-delay refers to a practice where brand-name drug or biologic manufacturers make agreements with competing manufacturers to keep their lower-cost drugs off the market in exchange for a settlement. Brand-name drugs often have exorbitant costs compared to their generic counterparts. Although they make up approximately--listen to the statistics--although they make up approximately 10 percent of all drugs dispensed in America, brand-name drugs make up 72 percent of U.S. drug spending. A 2013 FTC report estimates that these pay-for-delay agreements cost consumers $3.5 billion each year. FTC currently has the authority--and this is good--to review agreements like these between conventional drug manufacturers. But this authority does not extend to the manufacturers of biologic and biosimilar drugs, which are new, cutting-edge drugs that are often extremely expensive.…”