Legal

Sen. Debbie Stabenow

loopholes that keep generic drugs off the market need to be closed in order to make prescription drugs more affordable, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said in a videotaped presentation.

Stabenow has proposed legislation that addresses what she and other critics have identified as tactics that brand-name manufacturers use to maintain market exclusivity, including:

• getting a patent extension by researching the potential of a given drug to be used by children, even when it is obviously unfit for pediatric use;
• filing "citizen petitions" challenging generic drug applications, which delay the process even though nearly all such petitions are eventually rejected;
• challenging the introduction of a generic drug in court, which automatically keeps the unbranded alternative off the market for 30 months.