December 07, 2023

Warren Statement on President Biden’s Announcement on Use of March-in Rights to Lower Drug Prices

Washington, D.C. — Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued the following statement after President Joe Biden’s announcement that the Biden-Harris administration is issuing guidance to federal agencies that would allow the government to seize patents of certain expensive drugs developed with taxpayer support in an effort to create more competition and lower prices: 

“President Biden is taking a critical and much-needed step to lower costs and rein in the abuses of the pharmaceutical industry, which has raked in billions of dollars by jacking up prices for drugs that taxpayers paid to develop. Today's announcement means that drug companies will no longer have a free pass to hike up prices for life-saving drugs that benefitted from taxpayer dollars.

“I have no doubt that Big Pharma will do everything in its power to undermine the framework released today by the Interagency Working Group for Bayh-Dole, and Democrats must be prepared to fight back. I’m committed to working with the Biden-Harris administration to strengthen and quickly finalize this framework, so the government can use its authority to lower drug prices and save lives.”

Senator Warren has led efforts to use every tool available to the government to lower drug prices for the American people:

  • In June 2023, Senators Warren and Angus King (I-Maine), and Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) sent a letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra asking for information on the membership, process, timeline, and scope of work of the recently announced Interagency Working Group for Bayh-Dole.
  • In April 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) sent a letter to Kathi Vidal, Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), calling on USPTO to take immediate action and use its existing administrative authorities to help lower drug prices and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for anti-competitive business practices. 
  • In February 2023, Senators Warren and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representatives Jayapal and Katie Porter (D-Calif.) sent a letter to the USPTO, calling on the agency to give close scrutiny to any of Merck’s requests for new patents for Keytruda, a biological treatment used to treat cancer, citing new reports about Merck’s ongoing abuse of the patent system to protect its monopoly on the drug. 
  • In January 2023, Senators Warren and King and Representative Doggett led their colleagues in sending a follow-up letter to HHS, urging Secretary Becerra to exercise his authority to lower the price of cancer treatment drug Xtandi. 
  • In December 2022, Senator Warren and Representative Jayapal sent a letter to Director Kathi Vidal following up on their June 2021 letter about USPTO’s efforts to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for anti-competitive business practices and tackle high drug prices.
  • In June 2022, Senators Warren and King and Representatives Doggett, Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), and Porter led a group of 100 members from across the ideological spectrum to urge HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to swiftly act and use his existing authorities to lower prices on critical prescription drugs.
  • In April 2022, Senator Warren sent a letter to Secretary Becerra, sharing the findings from a letter that over 25 legal and public health experts sent to her outlining three powerful legal tools the Biden administration could use to lower drug prices. 
  • In March 2022, Senator Warren and her colleagues called out drug manufacturers for squeezing American families with rapid and widespread price hikes on prescription drugs.
  • In February 2022, Senators Warren and King and Representative Doggett urged HHS to exercise its march-in rights for the life-saving cancer drug Xtandi to dramatically lower its price for millions of Americans.
  • In June 2021, Senator Warren led a letter questioning PhRMA's lobbying efforts to block policies that would lower drug costs for millions of Americans.
  • Senator Warren has also introduced legislation that would radically reduce drug prices through public manufacturing of prescription drugs, including the Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act with Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). 

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