Statement by Alan F. Holmer, President of the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA),
on the Senate's failure to pass drug coverage for seniors and
the disabled:
April 09, 2002
The Senate’s vote in favor of tinkering with the
patent law is an example of election-year politics trouncing
good public policy. Seniors and the
disabled ultimately are the losers because they’re not getting
what they truly need – prescription drug insurance coverage in
Medicare.
Seniors understand that legislation to overhaul
patent laws won’t give them the savings or the access to the
new medicines that they want and deserve.
The tripartisan drug proposal, for example, would cut drug
bills in half for seniors and the disabled, but the one-sided
generic drug bill would potentially lower drug bills
for patients by only about one half of one percent at
best. As the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office has said, this “clearly is not the
answer. In fact, this bill would likely do
the opposite of what its title suggests – by limiting access
to cutting-edge drugs, decreasing innovation, and ultimately
harming the quality of treatments available to
patients.” The generic legislation also
goes far beyond new recommendations of the Federal Trade
Commission for making changes to the patent
system.
We hope that the Senators who supported
this flawed bill will reconsider this strategy in September
and will come back to do what they promised their constituents
in the last election: pass meaningful Medicare drug coverage
for seniors.
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