Gener­ic drugs and biosim­i­lars get last-minute re­prieve from re­bates with Sen­ate tweaks to Build Back Bet­ter Act

The Sen­ate Fi­nance Com­mit­tee on Sat­ur­day re­leased the lat­est text of Pres­i­dent Joe Biden’s $2 tril­lion spend­ing pack­age, paid for at least in part with new ne­go­ti­at­ing pow­er for Medicare and in­fla­tion re­bates drug­mak­ers will have to pay if their drug prices rise too quick­ly each year.

But now, gener­ic drugs at risk of short­age and biosim­i­lars have been cut out of the re­bates, as their in­dus­try lob­by­ing groups had sought. They’d said the in­clu­sion of such re­bates and ne­go­ti­a­tions could in­crease the like­li­hood of drug short­ages and cre­ate bar­ri­ers to com­pe­ti­tion.

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