This week in Washington: Talks continue on infrastructure, Senate committees moving forward on health legislation, President's budget due the end of the week.
House
Following Hearing, Democratic Committee Chairs Ask for
FTC Investigation into AbbVie's Pricing Practices
On May 18, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chair of the Committee on
Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chair of the
Judiciary Committee, wrote to ask Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Acting Chair Kelly Slaughter to investigate if AbbVie broke
antitrust laws with its patent strategy. The letter, which can be
found here, stated that the committee's
review of nonpublic documents indicates that AbbVie has delayed
biosimilar competition for far longer than warranted by its own
evaluations of its patent portfolio strength, which anticipated
biosimilar entry no later than 2017. The representatives'
request for a formal inquiry was made on the same day that the
AbbVie CEO testified before Congress about the company's
pricing practices for drugs Humira and Imbruvica. Testimony from
the May 18 hearing can be found here. In addition, the House Oversight
Committee released a Drug Pricing Investigation report into
AbbVie's pricing practices for Humira and Imbruvica on May 18.
The report can be found here.
House Passes Orphan Drug Exclusivity Loophole Bill
On May 19, the House passed the Fairness in Orphan Drug
Exclusivity Act (H.R. 1629) by an overwhelming vote of 402-23. The
bill would amend the cost recovery pathway under the Orphan Drug
Act to require pharmaceutical companies seeking orphan drug
designations to demonstrate they do not expect to recoup
development costs.
Senate
Executive Session to Discuss Legislation
On May 25, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee will hold an executive session titled "S.
__, Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act; S. 1491; S.__,
Supporting the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and
the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration
Act; S. 1301; S. 610; and S. 1658." The bills to be discussed
at this meeting are listed below.
- S. __, Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act
- S. 1491, Rural Maternal and Obstetric Modernization of Services Act
- S. 1662, Supporting the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration Act
- S. 1301, Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act
- S. 610, Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act
- S. 1658, Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act
Procedural Vote for Brooks-LaSure Nomination Set
On May 24, the Senate will vote on whether to invoke
cloture on Chiquita Brooks-LaSure's confirmation to be the next
administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) filed cloture on
May 20. A successful cloture vote would limit floor debate on the
confirmation, and both the cloture and final vote require simple
majorities.
Bipartisan Health Savings Bill Reintroduced
On May 20, Sens. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ben Cardin (D-MD),
Angus King (I-ME) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) reintroduced the
Preventive Health Savings Act (S. 1685), which would direct the
congressional budget to include the cost savings of preventive
health care. The bill would also allow certain committee chairs to
request an analysis of preventive measures extending beyond the
10-year window. The bill text can be found here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.