With the aim of fostering a more competitive generic drug marketplace and driving down the price of prescription medications, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins spoke today in favor of a measure to reauthorize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The measure includes provisions co-authored by Collins aimed at lowering, or at least moderating, escalating drug prices, which she says are a key cost driver in the U.S. health care system.
“Drug companies should not be able to increase their prices dramatically by thousands of percent overnight without any justification,” she says. “By taking these steps we will enhance regulatory certainty for generic drug companies, help prevent shortages, increase competition to lower prices and prevent monopolies and deter practices that can lead to unjustifiable, exorbitant price hikes.”
Collins, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, says a committee investigation into sudden price spikes found that older drugs with only one manufacturer and no generic competitor are particularly vulnerable to dramatic and sudden price increases.
The legislation would, among other things, require the FDA to prioritize the review of certain generic drug applications, provide increased transparency into the backlog of applications for drug approvals, provide the public with accurate information about drugs with limited competition and streamline the regulatory process.
