As lawmakers explore solutions to lower prescription drug costs for American families, attention is increasingly turning to how Big Pharma’s patent abuse keeps patients paying more and waiting longer for lower-cost medicines.

A federal judge ruled this week that a brand drugmaker must face a lawsuit “claiming it used unlawful methods to block generic competition for its multiple sclerosis drug ​Copaxone.”

USA Today published an investigation into the troubling case of Keytruda – a clear example of patent thickets used by drugmakers to extend their monopolies and block generics from entering the market.

In a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on competition, Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said Congress should “find a way that supports innovation and protects patients from unreasonably high prices… we need to get patients what they need at the lowest possible price.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) echoed the real concerns with drug company patent abuse in a House Ways & Means Committee hearing, noting:

“I think transparency, choice, competition, that’s the best way to deliver value for taxpayers and for patients… The current incentive structure is distortionary, and it inhibits these forces, creating monopoly dynamics, anti-competitive behavior… Some examples, in the world of drug innovation, there’s patent abuse where biotech companies are extending the life of their patent without making novel contributions, using patent tickets and essentially having these exclusive rights extended and gouging all of us, and we’re allowing it to happen.”

Meanwhile, more than 40 organizations and policy experts called on Congress to advance the Eliminating Thickets to Improve Competition (ETHIC) Act, which would support competition in the prescription drug market and address the egregious patent abuse by brand drug companies. They expressed concern at drugmakers adopting “a well-worn strategy of using legal tricks to strengthen and lengthen patent monopolies, allowing them to charge higher prices for longer by delaying generic and biosimilar competition.”

Understanding the power of competition to lower prices, PCMA has been shining a spotlight on Big Pharma’s patent abuse and calling for reform, and we will continue to fight for meaningful solutions that make health care more affordable. Momentum is building around a simple truth: patent abuse delays competition, keeps prices high, and harms patients. It’s time for Congress to put a stop to it.