Reps. introduce companion to Senate generic voucher bill

Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) introduced a bill that would create a Priority Review voucher program and take other steps to spur competition among generic drug manufacturers. The Lower Drug Costs through Competition Act ( H.R. 4784) is companion legislation to a bill introduced in the Senate this month by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) (see BioCentury Extra, March 3).

Both bills would grant transferable Priority Review vouchers upon approval of generics that do not have at least two manufacturers, or for which FDA has granted tentative approval to no more than two applications. The vouchers would speed generic drug review and could not be applied to new drug applications. ...