Bio manufacturers poised to follow Senate victory with house win

"A veteran California lawmaker with ties to the biotechnology industry said she thinks her proposal to protect brand-name biologic makers has enough support to carry in the House Energy and Commerce Committee," Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports.

The proposal, by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., would protect brand-name biologic products from competition for 12 years. A similar proposal cleared the Senate health committee earlier this week.

Opponents of the proposal include the White House, the Federal Trade Commission and consumer groups like the AARP, "the influential lobby for the elderly," which "said it was disappointed with the Senate committee's vote and 'has great difficulty supporting legislation that would delay the availability of safe, affordable generic biologic drugs and impede consumer access to these life-saving drugs.'" Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, has proposed protecting trademark products for only five to seven years. "Any legislation will likely affect the bottom lines of biologic makers such as Amgen Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Genentech Inc., and the wallets of consumers," Dow Jones reports. The sweeping health reform plan released yesterday did not include language on biologics, but Eshoo plans to introduce an amendment this week (Favole, 7/14).