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# Cicilline, Nadler Introduce Drug Price Bill
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/cicilline-nadler-introduce-drug-price-bill/
- Published: 2019-11-19T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T15:53:36.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5145540

Reps. **David Cicilline** (D-RI) and **Jerrold Nadler** (D-NY) have introduced the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Through Promoting Competition Act ([H.R. 5133](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5133?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22HR5133%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=2&ref=fdaweb.com)) to use the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prohibit drug companies from engaging in anticompetitive “product hopping.” Text of the bill is not yet available.

In a [statement](https://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/cicilline-nadler-introduce-bill-lower-prescription-drug-costs?ref=fdaweb.com), Cicilline said companies use a wide array of tactics when a drug is about to go off patent to switch patients to another version of the drug that they have the exclusive right to sell. “Known as ‘product hopping,’” he said, “this anticompetitive practice extends the manufacturer’s ability to charge monopoly prices by blocking the patient’s ability to switch to a cheaper, generic alternative. Product hopping benefits the manufacturer’s bottom line at the expense of patients who are stuck paying higher prices often for many years at a time.”

He says the bill would strengthen the FTC’s ability to bring and win cases against drug companies that engage in all forms of product hopping. He says a similar bill that was considered in the Senate would save taxpayers an estimated $500 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office.