The Senate in a unanimous vote Thursday afternoon passed a bill that aims to tackle pharmaceutical patent abuses by limiting the number of patents that companies can assert on any one drug.
The bill, which the CBO said could reduce the federal deficit by $1.8 billion over 10 years, seeks to prevent patent thickets, a tactic wherein pharma companies deploy dozens of patents to protect products from competition. (AbbVie’s Humira is often held up as an example.)
The bipartisan proposal, S.150, was co-authored by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The version that passed Thursday contains only a portion of their original legislation, but would limit, subject to certain exceptions and waivers, the number of certain types of patents that a brand-name biologic manufacturer may assert, such as patents filed more than four years after the reference product received FDA approval.
But the legislation, which doesn’t currently have a companion bill in the House, no longer includes a section going after “product hopping,” which is when companies switch patients to a follow-on product that is covered by a later-expiring patent.
“Today’s Senate action is another important victory for patients that can pave the way for House action and full Congressional passage of this bipartisan bill this year,” said Merith Basey, executive director of the nonprofit Patients For Affordable Drugs Now.
The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing also praised Thursday’s vote, with CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson adding, “We encourage lawmakers in both chambers to continue working in a spirit of bipartisan collaboration to ensure this solution is passed into law.”