Rep. Sarbanes Introduces Bill Requiring Manufacturers to Report Pay-for-Delay Deals

Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced legislation requiring biologic and biosimilar drug manufacturers to report any pay-for-delay agreements. The bipartisan bill, the Biosimilars Competition Act of 2018, requires manufacturers to report anticompetitive agreements that are designed to keep lower-cost drugs off the market.

“These so-called ‘pay-for-delay’ agreements… provide millions of dollars to big pharmaceutical companies while forcing everyday Americans to pay more for prescription drugs,” Sarbanes said.

Pay-for-delay deals have resulted in massive lawsuits, such as the class-action suits against Endo, Watson and Teikoku over a pay-for-delay arrangement for a generic version of Endo’s Lidoderm pain patch. The companies settled the lawsuits in March for $270 million.