Public Citizen Praises CREATES Act Vote

Public Citizen says the Senate Judiciary Committee “threw a punch for affordable prescriptions” 6/14 by voting to advance the CREATES Act that would prevent branded drug manufacturers from abusing regulatory rules to deny generic and biosimilar manufacturers access to product samples. “Corporations have long used this practice to delay the introduction of price-lowering generic and biosimilar competition,” says Public Citizen Access to Medicines advocate Steven Knievel, while brand name manufacturers use it to inappropriately extend their monopolies.

Knievel says the CREATES Act has been scored by the Congressional Budget Office to save $3.8 million over the next 10 years. He says Congress should pass the measure without delay and then go on to leverage government negotiating power to make Medicare Part D drug programs more affordable and curb other monopoly abuses of industry that delay cost-lowering generic competition.