Senators should tackle Big Pharma patent abuses

This Congress can stand up to Big Pharma and provide meaningful relief to Kansas families simply by restoring free market principles to the pharmaceutical marketplace. The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023, introduced by U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Richard Blumenthal, is bipartisan legislation that warrants support from our Kansas senators.

Brand name drug makers engaged in almost 600 price hikes to start this year, and according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), between 2021 and 2022, Big Pharma increased prices on over 1,200 drugs faster than the rate of inflation.

One of the main levers that gives the pharmaceutical industry the ability to keep hiking prices is its abuse of the patent system. According to one recent study, Big Pharma’s patent abuse cost American taxpayers and the U.S. health care system $40 billion in just one year.

Big Pharma’s anti-competitive tactics must be reined in to support a properly functioning market and there is no better way to do so than through free market principles and the promotion of greater competition.

The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023 passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee as it would take important steps to rein in some of the pharmaceutical industry’s most common patent abuse tactics, including “product hopping” and “patent thicketing.” The bill would also make it easier for more affordable alternatives to come to market to help lower drug prices.

Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran should lend their support to the bill to crack down on Big Pharma’s patent abuses and lower prescription drug prices for Kansans.

John Nachtman

Abilene

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