Strange Bedfellows: Generics Firms Join Big Pharma In Opposing Price Negotiation Legislation

In a twist that could help big pharma’s cause, marketers of generic drugs and biosimilars have joined the fight against provisions in the Build Back Better bill that would empower the Health and Human Services Department to negotiate the prices of certain high-cost, single source drugs that have been on the market long enough for their initial period of exclusivity to expire.

Generic drug and biosimilar makers are worried that the negotiation framework envisioning discounts of at least 25% to 60% on older brands would make those drugs less attractive targets for generic or biosimilar competition because the gap between the prices of innovator products and follow-ons could be substantially smaller