Durbin during a Senate Judiciary hearing. Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senate Judiciary Committee members today used a hearing on drug patents to take shots at drugmakers and PBMs while bemoaning the slow process for bringing legislation to the floor.
Why it matters: The committee early last year advanced a package of reforms that would crack down on ways manufacturers can game the patent system but there hasn't been any movement since.
What they're saying: "We pass all these bills. We have a common view of the problem and nothing ever happens," said Ranking Member Lindsey Graham. "The idea of playing games with patents needs to stop. ... We need to challenge the Senate."
- "It's frustrating that these bills move and don't become law. And why they have not, I don't know," said Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Friction point: Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin grilled PhRMA's vice president of policy and research Jocelyn Ulrich on why drug prices are higher in the U.S. while Graham keyed on whether drug manufacturers are abusing the patent system to fend off competition from generics.
- Ulrich said that U.S. drug spending accounts for the same share of overall health costs as in European countries and that Americans get access to drugs faster.
- Responding to a question from Graham, she said "there are controls in place" to prevent patent abuse.
- Graham responded: "You think it's working? Well I don't."
Senators also zeroed in on PBMs and whether changing the way they're paid would be effective in reducing drug prices.
The intrigue: There wasn't much discussion of the set of more controversial bills that Sens. Chris Coons and Thom Tillis are pushing that would overhaul the patent reform system, which we wrote about yesterday.
