Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick outlining ways the administration can partner with Congress on pro-competition reforms that lower prescription drug costs for American families. 

Currently, duplicative and overlapping drug patents – often referred to as “patent thickets” – can delay the entry of lower-cost generics and biosimilars, limiting competition and keeping prices unnecessarily high. To complement the Trump Administration’s commitment to strengthening domestic manufacturing and reducing artificial barriers in health care, Arrington and his colleagues encourage Secretary Lutnick to support the bipartisan Eliminating Thickets to Increase Competition (ETHIC) Act as a targeted, market-based solution to promote fair competition and expand patient access to affordable medicines. 

“As a bipartisan group of members committed to lowering drug prices, we write to urge the U.S. Department of Commerce to prioritize addressing the issue of patent thickets surrounding branded pharmaceutical products, particularly biologics,” Arrington’s letter reads, in part. “Duplicative patent thickets create significant barriers to market entry for biosimilars and generics, delaying access to affordable medications and sustaining high drug prices for patients.” 

“By addressing this issue in the manner outlined by the ETHIC Act, the Department can advance a pro-competition agenda that lowers drug prices without threatening innovation.” 

Click HERE to read the full letter. 

“For decades, Big Pharma has exploited U.S. courts and the patent system through anti-competitive practices that prevent generic and biosimilar competitors from entering the market, forcing Vermonters to pay more out of pocket for life-saving drugs,” said Senator Welch. “My bipartisan ETHIC Act would stop pharmaceutical companies from abusing the patent system and lower prescription drug prices for patients. We’re calling on the Trump Administration to support our bill to cut drug costs and streamline access to care for families in Vermont, Texas, and across the country.”

“Too often, Big Pharma’s masterful innovation is in creating new ways to maintain monopoly power and charge monopoly prices,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX-35). “One creative tactic has been to block competition from generics by creating a thicket of patents with multiple patent applications for the same idea. To ensure patients are not priced out of access and to encourage a healthy free market, the Patent Office should ensure that when one patent is deemed meritless, the associated duplicates fall as well. This modest reform would help ensure timely generic entry to drive down prices for patients and achieve huge savings for taxpayers.” 

The ETHIC Act 

The U.S. patent system was designed to strike a balance between fostering innovation and encouraging competition. Protections around intellectual property (IP) are a cornerstone of American innovation and encourage companies to base their companies in the U.S. However, some companies have exploited this system by creating dense webs or “thickets” of patents around their most profitable drugs, blocking patients from accessing lower cost generic options.  
 
New research shows that the thickets used by certain branded pharmaceutical companies are duplicative, and fail to make substantial improvements to the original drug. This practice delays competition and keeps drug prices high for hardworking American families. 
 
The ETHIC Act would curb the practice of patent thicketing, bringing much-needed competition to the domestic biosimilars market and increasing access to lower cost treatments and cures.  

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