DOSE OF REALITY: GENERIC AND BIOSIMILAR COMPETITION GENERATES SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS FOR PATIENTS AND THE U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
Report Underscores How Competition Lowers Prescription Drug Prices by Providing More Affordable Alternatives to High-Priced Brand Name Drugs
According to a new report from the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM), in partnership with the IQVIA Institute, generic and biosimilar medications saved American patients and the U.S. health care system $467 billion in 2024 by reducing reliance on higher priced brand name drugs. Savings over the last decade amounted to a staggering $3.4 trillion. Last year, generic medications delivered $142 billion in savings to Medicare and $62.1 billion to Medicaid.
Although brand name drugs make up just one in ten U.S. prescriptions filled, they represent a staggering 88 percent of prescription drug expenditures. In contrast, generic medicines account for nine in ten of all prescriptions filled in the U.S. yet comprise only 12 percent of total prescription drug spending. This stark imbalance underscores how pharmaceutical companies engage in anticompetitive tactics to keep brand name drug prices high and maintain market dominance.
Big Pharma deploys a full suite of tactics designed to game the U.S. patent system — enabling brand name drug companies to extend monopolies over their biggest money-makers and block greater competition from generics and biosimilars. The pharmaceutical industry’s egregious abuse of the patent system is a root cause of high prescription drug prices because it enables Big Pharma to repeatedly hike prices on existing drugs, set out-of-control launch prices on new medications and block competition from more affordable alternatives.
A recent study published in JAMA Health Forum recently found lost competition due to Big Pharma’s patent thickets on just four widely prescribed brand name drugs cost patients, taxpayers and the U.S. health care system more than $3.5 billion over two years due to lost competition.
Market-based solutions to foster greater generic and biosimilar competition by cracking down on Big Pharma’s egregious patent abuse (like S.1041 The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act) have a demonstrated track record of strong bipartisan support and should be swiftly passed by Congress to boost competition and help lower prescription drug prices for patients.
Earlier this year, CSRxP released public opinion research, conducted by Fabrizio Ward, showing American voters overwhelmingly hold Big Pharma responsible for high prescription drug prices and support market-based solutions to lower prices by holding big drug companies accountable, including for gaming the U.S. patent system to block competition.
The survey of 1,000 registered voters found:
- 82 Percent: The overwhelming majority of voters (82 percent) and Trump voters (80 percent) support reforming patent laws to prevent drug companies from abusing the system that extends their monopolies on drugs longer than intended and halts lower cost generic drugs and biosimilars from the market.
- Nine-In-Ten: 89 percent of all voters reported they were concerned with this statement: “Big Pharma has a long history of price-gouging American patients through tactics designed to game the U.S. patent system and block competition from more affordable alternatives, including patent thickets comprised of hundreds of patents on their blockbuster drugs, effectively preventing competitors from bringing lower-cost alternatives to market.”
Read the full 2025 savings report from the Association for Accessible Medicines and the IQVIA Institute HERE.
Read more on how biosimilar competition lowers prescription drug prices HERE.
Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.
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