Thanks, Tom Carper!
The pharmaceutical industry lobbying group PHARMA is threatening to pull its support for the health care reform legislation because of a change in the health care bill.
The drug industry is threatening to end its support for President Barack Obama’s health overhaul effort because of a rift with the administration over protecting brand-name biotech drugs from low-cost generic competitors.
In an e-mail obtained Friday by The Associated Press, the president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America told the trade group’s board members that “we could not support the bill” if the industry is given less than 12 years of competitive protection for the expensive products.
Obama and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., are leading the drive to shorten that period, which proponents argue would be a boon to consumers.
So, what are they upset about?
Both the House and Senate bills would for the first time create rules by which so-called biologic drugs, which are made in living cells, would be subject to copycat competition, saving the health care system billions of dollars over 10 years.
The drugs, which include big sellers like the cancer drug Avastin and the arthritis drug Enbrel, can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. Biologics are not governed by the Hatch-Waxman Act, which covers generic competition for more conventional drugs made from chemicals, like Prozac or Lipitor. After the patent on a biologic drug expires, competitors may produce similar products, but they are treated by the health care system as if they were entirely new drugs, not substitutes like generics.
To retain incentives for innovation, both the House and Senate bills would provide a brand-name biologic drug with 12 years of protection from competition, even if the drug’s patents expire before that.
Until now it looked like the matter was settled because the 12-year period got wide bipartisan support in both chambers. And with Congress having much more prominent issues to grapple with, there seemed little chance this issue would be reopened.
That has changed. Mr. Obama apparently met with Congressional leaders and specified a shorter exclusivity period as one of the changes he wanted in the legislation, according to James Greenwood, the president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the biotech trade group, which favors the 12-year period.
So, they’re upset that they don’t get special protected status like no other pharmaceuticals get for 12 years?
I sure am glad that Tom Carper stood up for protecting the deal with Big Pharma in the summer:
Carper fought to prevent Medicaid and Medicare from negotiating drug prices (one of the big disappointments of Medicare Part D) and also fought drug reimportation.
Tags: Big Pharma, Health Care Reform, Tom Carper
Some might say that this redounds to Obama’s level-headed consensus building style. I would not be one of those people.
I think the PHARMA deal was horrible from the start. They should be ecstatic though. Health care reform will die and they’ll keep their fat profits screwing over Americans. Yes, I’m in full pessimist mode today.
I’m hoping they’ll add drug price negotiation and reimportation to the bill now that PHARMA says no.
Some might say that this redounds to Obama’s level-headed consensus building style. I would not be one of those people.
I thought you were a poker player?
Anyone remember who sank the Clinton health reform effort? Pharma, Health Insurance, Doctors, Congress. The Obama strategy here was to take them all off of the table and to let Congress do the work to create a bill that they’d be invested in. Taking them off of the table meant cutting deals up front. The deals themselves are largely distasteful, but there isn’t much to fault in the strategy of learning from the Clinton effort mistakes.
Ha ha, who the f*** cares what PhRMA thinks now? We’re in the home stretch. The American people have already seen millions of scare ads on the bill. Get that damn bill into reconciliation and get it done so we can move on.
“Get that damn bill into reconciliation and get it done so we can move on.”
You are so right, we know who won,THE MONEY !! Until we can get some kind of finance reform, what’s the use. Votes can be bought no matter wha the issue and “Business ” seems t be good
The strategy by Obama, Pelosi et al, was never about reform. If they truly wanted reform they would have at the very least had the Congressional Budget office provide the real savings in health care and had a real honest debate on single payer. HR 676 sat there for years and had huge support from the progressives. But Obama, Axelrod, Rahm and his henchmen decided to “take it off the table”. They had the audacity to “arrest” all those doctors who were insisting single payer be part of the discussion. This health care “reform” was a set up. All the back door deals made with big pharma, the AMA, and even AARP (the biggest for profit ponzi scheme out there). It is about the money, it is about keeping the insurance companiesflush with cash with subsidies backed by the government. It is about forcing american citizens into buying health insurance from private corporations who have decades of experience at robbing the public blind. What Obama and the demorats are pushing is the terrible Massachusetts health care, which is why democrats in Massachusetts are rebelling against the Democratic candidate. Mass has had 3 years of Mitt Romneys health care reform, they above all other states already know its destroying the econonmy of Massachussetts. And still the demorats are going to push this outrageous mandate which will come back to bite them in the ass in the future.