(Washington, D.C.) — Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO JC Scott released the following statement on today’s vote in the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act:

“We applaud the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health for today’s action on H.R. 965, the CREATES Act. This legislation is an important step forward to increasing competition and lowering prescription drug costs, and we encourage the committee and the full House to advance it quickly and without amendment.

PBMs have an established track record of negotiating with drug manufacturers to reduce costs for consumers, but we are only able to do so where there is sufficient competition in the marketplace. Brand drug manufacturer tactics that block generics from entering the market weaken PBMs’ ability to negotiate and deliver lower prescription drug costs. The CREATES Act is designed to encourage more development of generic and biosimilar drugs, and reduce overall drug costs by preventing brand drug manufacturer abuses of Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) that block generic competition.

PCMA also supports additional legislation marked up today by the Subcommittee to promote competition, including H.R. 938, the Bringing Low-cost Options and Competition while Keeping Incentives for New Generics (BLOCKING) Act of 2019; H.R. 1520, the Purple Book Continuity Act of 2019; H.R. 1503, the Orange Book Transparency Act of 2019; H.R. 1499, the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2019.

Allowing more generic medications to market will allow PBMs to encourage even greater competition among drugmakers, and incentivize consumers to take the most cost-effective, clinically appropriate medication.

We all have a role to play in reducing drug costs, and we support a number of additional ideas to promote fair competition and build upon market-based tools to reduce prescription drug costs. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration on this important issue.”