As a nurse practitioner for over 15 years and owner of the Eastern Utah Women’s Health in Price, I have always had a passion for Women’s Health and Education. I am grateful for the achievements the pharmaceutical industry have made that help patients live longer and better lives. What I don’t appreciate, is when pharmaceutical companies take advantage of patients by monopolizing the market, cutting off generic drug companies and marking up their drug prices. The Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act targets abusive delay tactics being used to prevent entry of affordable generic drugs that could save thousands of patients and relieve the financial burden many patients and their families feel.
Some big pharmaceutical companies have been using loopholes within the FDA regulations to keep generic drugs from the market. For example, in 2015, the Turing Company blocked generic alternatives to Daraprim. Turing then increased Daraprims price from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill. They are desperate to do anything to prolong the 20-year patent monopoly they already have. For me, the CREATES Act is a no-brainer, I urge Senator Hatch to join Senator Lee and support the bipartisan CREATES Act that will allow these disputes to be settled in the marketplace and the courts, which would reduce drug prices for thousands of patients.
—Danielle Pendergrass
Price, Utah
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