AAM Biosimilars Council Urges Supreme Court to Prioritize Access to Biosimilar Medicines

PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC (Feb. 17, 2017) - The Biosimilars Council, a division of the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM), formerly the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, urges the Supreme Court to recognize that biosimilar medicines can generate billions of dollars in patient and health system savings — but only if patients can access them in a timely manner, as Congress directed.

Congress passed the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) with the express purpose of bringing lower cost biosimilar medicines to patients at the earliest possible date, while maintaining a generous 12 year exclusivity period for expensive, branded biologics. The Federal Circuit’s decision would delay patient access to biosimilars, which was never Congress’s intent. Court-imposed adoption of this additional six month monopoly would cost patients, taxpayers, and private payers billions of dollars in increased prescription drug spending. AAM urges the Supreme Court to recognize the importance of biosimilar medicines in promoting patient access to affordable health care, by overturning this unintended windfall for brand name biologic manufacturers.

Read the AAM amicus brief: http://bit.ly/2l3dH2W

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) is now AAM. Read more: http://accessiblemeds.org/campaign-expand-access-to-medicines/