Bill > S1818

This bill, called the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2025, aims to significantly lower prescription drug prices in the United States by creating a mechanism to challenge and potentially break drug manufacturers' monopolies when they charge prices higher than those in five reference countries (Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan). The bill establishes a process where the Secretary of Health and Human Services will annually review brand name drugs to determine if their prices are excessive, comparing domestic prices to median prices in reference countries and considering factors such as patient population, therapeutic value, development costs, and health outcomes. If a drug is found to have an excessive price, the Secretary can waive the drug's government-granted exclusivities, effectively allowing generic manufacturers to produce the drug and compete in the market. Manufacturers of drugs deemed excessively priced would be required to pay reasonable royalties to the original patent holders and provide detailed annual reports about their drug pricing, research and development costs, and global revenues. The bill also creates a public database to track excessive drug pricing determinations, establishes penalties for manufacturers who fail to report required information, and prohibits anticompetitive behavior that could interfere with the implementation of these new drug pricing rules.

Health and Social Services

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1818/all-info