WASHINGTON -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today welcomed a commitment from the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers from anticompetitive behavior in the pharmaceutical sector. The statement from the commission chairwoman came in response to a request from Grassley and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy to review Mylan’s business practices on EpiPens for possible anticompetitive behavior.
“The laws to prevent anticompetitive practices help promote competition that holds down consumer costs,” Grassley said. “With high drug prices on so many minds, the priority of maintaining competition among drug companies is important and welcome.”
In a letter to Grassley, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez wrote, “… I strongly agree that maintaining competition in pharmaceutical markets is critically important, and I can assure you that protecting consumers from anticompetitive activity in the pharmaceutical sector remains a top priority for the Commission.”
The senators’ request to the FTC followed news reports that Mylan engaged in exclusive contracts with schools, potentially precluding them from purchasing products that compete with the auto-injector to treat severe allergic reactions. Ramirez wrote that she could not discuss any matter that may be under review by the commission but “please be assured that we are aware of the concerns you and others have raised on this subject.”
Mylan has come under recent scrutiny for dramatic increases in the price of EpiPen and revelations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that Mylan misclassified EpiPen in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, allowing the company to pay lower rebates than it should have.
The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing to explore a reported settlement agreement between the Justice Department and Mylan related to the misclassification issue. The Department of Justice and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid are declining to testify. Grassley has criticized that decision, citing the need for accountability for the hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer overpayments for the EpiPen since 2009, when CMS was told of the misclassification.
In addition to calling for enforcement of statutes promoting competition to hold down drug costs, Grassley is a lead co-sponsor of two pending bipartisan bills that would help bring more generic drugs to market for consumer benefit, the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act, and the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act.
The FTC response is available here. The Grassley-Leahy letter is available here.
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