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Congressman Pallone (NJ-06) Visits Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals to Highlight Legislation to Bring Low Cost Generic Drugs to Market Faster

February 13, 2012

New Brunswick, N.J.Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, visited the facility of generic drug manufacturer Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals today to highlight the “Generic Drug and Biosimilar User Fee Act of 2012.” The bipartisan bill introduced by Congressman Pallone establishes two critically important programs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will help speed the delivery of low-cost drugs and other medicines to patients.

Pallone joined Mayor Jim Cahill of New Brunswick and representatives from New Jersey Citizen Action, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey to promote the legislation and the benefits it provides in both patient care and health care savings.

“Generic drugs save lives at lower cost, and bringing generic and biosimilar drugs to market faster must be a priority,” said Pallone. "This bipartisan legislation will go a long way to giving the FDA the resources it needs to review these drug applications in a timely and effective manner.”

Generic drugs have provided more than $824 billion in savings to the nation’s health care system in the last decade, but there is a significant backlog of generic drug applications at the FDA. This bill will authorize an agreement between generic drug manufacturers and the FDA that will expedite review of generic drug applications.

Based in New Jersey, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals is an integrated research based, international pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of quality, affordable generic medicines. With this new legislation, companies like Ranbaxy will be able to deliver more low-cost drugs to patients and create jobs in the district.

The bill also authorizes the Biosimilars User Fee Agreement, another new FDA program that resulted from a provision in the Affordable Care Act. It will provide funding for the review and approval of new promising medicines, also known as follow-on biologics or biosimilars, to patients. Biologics are medicines made by a biologic process rather than a chemical process.

“This legislation would help lower health care costs for millions of Americans and support local generic drug manufacturers, and I look forward to moving it through Congress.”

Issues:Health Care