Action
Alert on Prescription Drugs
Close
loopholes used by brand-name drug manufacturers
to
keep high prices!
By: The
New York Network for Action on Medicare and Social Security
September 19, 2002
On
September 19, 2002, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt is
initiating a discharge petition among House members to force
a floor vote on the House version of the Schumer-McCain Greater
Access to Affordable Prescriptions (GAAP) Act (S.812) that was
passed by the Senate in July with tripartisan support. The
current companion bill in the House (HR 5272), sponsored by
Congressmembers Emerson and Thune, also has bipartisan support (an
earlier version was sponsored by Sherrod Brown- HR1862).
The discharge petition is necessary because the House
leadership and the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee are delaying action on the bill and refuse to bring the
bill to the floor for a vote. House Rules allow a majority (218
House members) to sign a petition to discharge the bill from the
committee to the floor for a vote.
We need every New York member of the House to sign the discharge
petition, regardless of their position on the issue.
The brand-name drug industry has succeeded in stalling this
long enough! The GAAP
bill would do several things that our coalition strongly supports:
forbids
drug companies from getting more than one 30-month extension of
their patent monopolies (a
loophole in the Hatch-Waxman Act that results in long delays in
allowing generics on the market);
forbids drug companies from paying generic manufacturers not to
produce a cheaper generic drug and allows generic manufacturers to
challenge “frivolous patents” involving “superficial
changes” that stifle price competition.
allows
re-importation of drugs from Canada
allow
states more freedom to use their Medicaid programs to help provide
discounted drugs for those without insurance as the state of Maine
did .
Call your Congressmember today and get them to sign the discharge
petition for the GAAP generics competition bill (HR 5272).
Let’s get a vote before the November elections so we know
which side they are really on!
The
Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) in Washington, DC, has set up a
toll-free number to call Congress 1-877-611-0063.
Protect Medicare -- fight for a real prescription drug
benefit in Medicare.
JOIN
with members of NYNAMSS –
the
New York Network for Action on Medicare and Social Security –
in
this crucial fight!
Our
next meeting: Friday, September 27rd at 10 am.
For more info:
(518) 436-1003 (212)
316-9393 (212) 273-5262
(718) 694-8290x4
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