Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing is launching a seven-figure ad campaign calling on Congress to act on drug patent reform bills while pushing back on arguments from the pharmaceutical industry.
Why it matters: The post-recess advocacy aims to boost efforts to pass bipartisan patent overhauls this year in a bid to lower pharmaceutical prices.
Driving the news: One of the first ads in the TV and digital campaign calls for Congress to "get wise" to "patent games" from pharmaceutical companies.
- It highlights "product hopping," in which a company makes a small change to a drug in an attempt to extend its period of market exclusivity.
- The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing is a coalition of insurers, PBMs and providers.
The big picture: There is some chance Congress could act on drug pricing patent measures as a payfor in a health package during the lame-duck session, especially after the Senate fast-tracked a measure in July.
- That bill was scaled down from an earlier version and focused on "patent thickets" that drug manufacturers create when they file many patents on one product.
The other side: PhRMA launched its own ad campaign in June defending the IP system.
- The drug lobby argues that the IP system helps promote innovation and that it can be beneficial for companies to make changes to a drug after initial approval for reasons including making it easier to administer.
- "Innovation. Competition. Lower Costs. Thanks to IP," read PhRMA's ads.
The bottom line: Some interesting coalitions are pushing patent reforms, such as GOP Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal on the patent thicket bill.
- Lauren Aronson, executive director of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, called on Congress to pass "bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable for anticompetitive tactics, like patent-thicketing, that extend monopolies and block competition from more affordable alternatives."
