A group of 33 major consumer and labor organizations from 14 states are calling on the Senate to take up a cost-savings measure that would help consumers get access to well-tested, fairly priced drugs by banning anti-competitive legal deals between brand-name and generics companies.

The provisions, which Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl introduced as Senate Amendment 2862 to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, would prevent brand-name drug companies from paying off generic drug companies, a practice commonly known as “pay-for-delay settlements. These backroom sweetheart deals, to which consumers have no access or recourse, are rigged to allow brand name drug companies to retain longer patent exclusivity, and thus high, anti-competitive pricing – locking many consumers out of access to well-tested, affordable medications.

Among those joining Community Catalyst to support this amendment [read their letter to Senate leadership] are some big hitters in the consumer protection arena:  Consumers Union, PIRG, Public Citizen, and Medicare Rights Center, among others.

–Georgia Maheras, Prescription Access and Quality