Braun bills aimed at lowering drug costs

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun announced Wednesday he has introduced three bills that aim to reduce prescription drug prices.

They would ban drugmaker rebates to pharmacy benefit managers, speed the federal drug review process and discourage pharmaceutical companies from trying to delay the approval of generic drugs. 

“I'm offering solutions to address rising healthcare prices by adding transparency to our drug pricing, clearing the backlog on pending drug applications at the FDA, and providing oversight and accountability within the healthcare industry,” Braun, R-Ind., said in a statement.

Braun's Drug Price Transparency Act would prohibit pharmacy benefit managers, which are third-party administrators of prescription drug programs, from receiving rebates or price reductions from drug manufacturers and require that any drug manufacturer rebates or price reductions be reflected at the point-of-sale to the consumer.

“To drive down high drug costs, we need to shine a light on the negotiations between drug manufacturers, middleman negotiators and pharmacies,” Braun wrote in a commentary published Tuesday by the Washington Times.

The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would end manufacturer rebates to pharmacy benefit managers of Medicare and Medicaid drug coverage plans.

Nick McGee, public affairs director for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in an email about Braun's bill: “We support reforming the rebate system to lower patients' out-of-pocket costs. We need to ensure that more of the $166 billion in negotiated rebates and discounts are used to lower patient costs and we are currently reviewing the proposed legislation.”

Braun's  Accelerated Drug Approval for Prescription Therapies (ADAPT) Act would give the Food and Drug Administration no more than six months to review applications for drugs currently approved for sale in other developed countries. Braun's office said FDA reviews have taken as long as 15 years.

Braun's Efficiency and Transparency in Petitions Act would require that “citizen petitions” submitted by drugmakers to the FDA regarding pending generic drug applications be submitted within a year of when a petitioner discovers the issue that is the basis for the petition. Petitions can delay the arrival of generic drugs in the marketplace.

Also Wednesday, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., announced that he and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., have introduced legislation that would repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force against Iraq.

The fact that one of the authorizations is 28 years old “illustrates the level of Congressional failure to perform its Constitutionally mandated oversight role,” Young said in a statement.

Kaine said in a statement, “It makes no sense that two AUMFs remain in place against a country that is now a close ally.”

bfrancisco@jg.net