The bills stem from concern among lawmakers that COVID-19 therapies and vaccines may be unaffordable for the general public.
One of the bills, introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., would:
- Prohibit drugmakers from gaining monopolies on new, taxpayer-funded COVID-19 drugs
- Require the federal government to mandate affordable pricing for new, taxpayer-funded drugs
- Require drugmakers to publicly report expenses for making a COVID-19 drug, including contributions from federal funds
- Waive exclusive licenses on any drug for treating a public health emergency
The other bill, introduced by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, would create a database to allow people to monitor tax dollars used by federal agencies for COVID-19 research and to create medical products, STAT reported. The database would include:
- All federal support provided to drugmakers, both financial and nonfinancial
- All clinical trial data
- Patent information
- Any agreements made between the federal government and drugmakers
Contracts between federal agencies and drugmakers usually can only be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, according to STAT, and can be heavily redacted, as a lot of drugmakers claim certain information is confidential and contains trade secrets.
One or both of the bills could be included in a congressional bill on drug-pricing, STAT reported.
Read the full article here.
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