(Washington, D.C.) — The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) released the following statement on the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust hearing.

“We urge the House Judiciary Subcommittee to focus on the root cause of the prescription drug pricing problem: Egregious patent abuse by some drug companies. Addressing patent abuse and encouraging greater competition in the prescription drug supply chain is the most effective way to drive down costs for all Americans. While drug companies continue to attempt to shift attention away from their high prices and abuse of patents, the Subcommittee should seize this opportunity to explore how they can hold the industry accountable.

“PCMA supports legislation to address patent abuse. For example, the Senate recently unanimously voted to pass bipartisan legislation, S. 150, to crack down on Big Pharma’s patent thickets – a measure the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates would save $1.8 billion. In the House, Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Darrell Issa and Subcommittee Ranking Member Hank Johnson re-introduced H.R. 9070 to crack down on drug companies’ patent abuse.

“On the other hand, misguided pharma-backed proposals designed to undermine the cost-saving role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), such as the so-called “delinking” scheme, would increase health care premiums by more than $39 billion annually for patients, seniors, families, and taxpayers, and reward drug companies with a more than $32 billion financial windfall. As drug companies continue to push policies to undermine the one real check on their pricing power to boost their own bottom line, we urge Congress to look past their blame game and focus on solutions that will actually lower prescription drug costs for patients.”

Find out the facts on common misconceptions being pushed by Big Pharma surrounding PBMs HERE.

Learn why Congress should pass patent abuse legislation over misguided proposals targeting pharmacy benefit companies HERE.

Read recent headlines on the positive progress toward cracking down on Big Pharma’s patent abuse in U.S. Senate HERE.

See recent comments from the Senate Judiciary Committee on the root cause of high prescription drug prices HERE.

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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit companies. Pharmacy benefit companies are working every day to secure savings, enable better health outcomes, and support access to quality prescription drug coverage for more than 275 million patients.