Two bills aimed at lowering drug prices authored by Senator Bill Cassidy are set to be signed into law by President Biden.
The first bill provides educational material to doctors and patients educating them about “biosimilar” alternatives to expensive name-brand treatments. Cassidy said biosimilars do nearly the same thing as their name-brand competitors at a fraction of the cost.
Biosimilars have been compared to a new generation of generic drugs, the difference being they can be sold before a name-brand treatment’s patent lapses. Cassidy said this has the potential to save patients up to 150 billion dollars, with the best estimate being 50 billion dollars.
The second bill counters a recent court ruling that would have made it harder for much cheaper generic medications to be created after patents on expensive name brands lapse.
“It closes that loophole and makes sure that when drugs go off patent the generic comes out and the price begins to fall,” said Cassidy.
The two bills are some of the few pieces of bipartisan legislation to make it through the Congressional grinder since the start of the Biden Administration.
“High drug prices are not a Republican issue, they are not a Democratic issue, and it’s not an Independent Issue, it is an American issue, it is a patient issue,” said Cassidy.
Cassidy said his next healthcare affordability push will focus on Medicare drug prices and deductibles.
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