Copyright 2000 The Buffalo News
The Buffalo News
November 14, 2000, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE, Pg. 12B
LENGTH: 361 words
HEADLINE:
LIFE SUPPORT FOR EXPIRING DRUG PATENTS
BODY:
Bipartisan legislation that would help generic-drug producers
compete with brand-name companies is long overdue.
The Greater Access to
Affordable Pharmaceuticals Act allows generic-drug companies to enter the market
promptly after brand-name companies' drug patents expire. Over the next 10
years, that could mean savings of $ 240 million to Erie County residents who
have been paying exorbitant rates for name-brand drugs.
The fact that
this legislation was introduced by Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer and
Republican Sen. John McCain may give it the bipartisan support it will need to
get through Congress. But it's up against tough resistance from drug firms that
have traditionally used lobbying and legal tactics to extend the duration of
patents and avoid competition from generic drug producers.
McCain and
Schumer said their bill would restore the original intent of laws written 16
years ago that first opened the medicinal drug market to generic drug makers. In
the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act, Congress set patent guidelines for
drugs.
As it stands, drug companies receive 20-year patents starting on
the date they apply. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
contends that gives drugs just more than 11 years of patent protection on the
marketplace, since they are patented while in the development and approval
process. But companies often win patent extensions merely by changing the size
or color of the pill or switching from tablet to capsule form.
The
Schumer-McCain bill, endorsed by several consumer and insurance industry groups,
would limit patent changes to how the drug works and how it is taken - a far cry
from the days of winning patent extensions based on minor, and sometimes
cosmetic, changes.< The legislation takes it one crucial step further by
making it a crime for brand-name companies to pay generic manufacturers to keep
their product off the market.
As the life expectancy of Americans
continues to increase, so unfortunately - does the cost of prescription drugs.
Congress needs to help curtail some of those spiraling costs. It can start by
passing the Schumer-McCain legislation.
LOAD-DATE:
November 15, 2000 
