California mulls state generics brand
California’s governor wants the state to establish its own generics brand in a bid to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.
“We need to lower the cost of prescription drugs—and the greedy pharmaceutical companies are going to fight us at every turn,” Democratic governor Gavin Newsom said on Twitter.
“So we’re proposing to create our own prescription drug label.”
The measure was included in the proposed budget for 2020-21 that Newsom presented to the state legislature last Friday, January 10.
The budget provides for the creation of a new CalRx generic drug programme, the first of its kind in the US.
The proposals would see the establishment of a “single market for drug pricing within the state”, an announcement said.
Pay-for-delay tensions
Tensions remain between the governor and US generic drugmakers, who are opposed to his ban on so-called pay-for-delay deals.
Newsom signed the legislation, known as AB 824, into law last October.
Pay-for-delay deals, which often arise as settlements to patent litigation, see pharmaceutical companies pay to keep generic competition off the market.
The Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) that represents major US generic manufacturers, said a state generics company would face the same pressures as its own members.
“California’s own data demonstrate that generics are the solution to high health care costs for patients,” said AAM general counsel Jeff Francer.
“If California enters the market itself, it will face the same market dynamics that have led to generic prescription drug price deflation in the past three years, as well as certain cases of patent abuse that have led to longer monopolies by select brand-name drugs,” Francer said.
Francer also reiterated the AAM’s criticism of AB 824, which he said would make it “more difficult to challenge brand-name drug patents that keep prices higher longer for California patients”.
The AAM has asked the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse AB 824 after the US District Court for the Eastern District of California refused to do so.
“We are happy to work with Governor Newsom and his staff to help address the challenges of bringing to Californians more affordable generic and biosimilar medicines,” the association added.
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