January 7, 2019 Blogs

Meet January Price Fighting Hero Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota

Patients For Affordable Drugs is excited to name Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) as one of our January Drug Price Fighting Hero thanks to her work fighting for American patients.

Sen. Klobuchar is a Price Fighting Hero due to her commitment to working across the aisle to help patients.

In December, Sen. Klobuchar worked with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to introduce the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act. This bill addresses the abusive pay-for-delay tactic used by drug companies to prevent generic drugs from coming to market and keeping prices high. Crohn’s patient Leah Clark is also featured this month as a Price Fighting Hero. She has used the drug Humira by the pharmaceutical company, AbbVie, most known for its pay-for-delay deals that keep prices high for patients, longer.

Sen. Klobuchar also led the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2017 which would allow Medicare to negotiate for drug prices, creating more competition for rising drug prices. She serves as an original sponsor on the bipartisan legislation Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act of 2018 that would close a patent loophole that allows big pharma to keep prices high and generics off the market.

Sen. Klobuchar is a January Price Fighting Hero because she not only speaks out for patients, she takes tangible steps toward lower drug prices for all Americans. With her championship in the Senate, we are hopeful Congress will make good on its promise to lower drug prices.

Over the last few months, P4AD has honored FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, multiple sclerosis patient Victoria Stuessel, the former Administrator of CMS Andy Slavitt, metastatic breast cancer patient and advocate Becky Hall, Nevada State Senator Yvanna Cancela, T1International founder Elizabeth Rowley, Oregon State Senator Dennis Linthicum, and dry eye patient and advocate Ann Neilson.

***
Patients For Affordable Drugs’ Price Fighting Heroes is a series highlighting advocates in the fight to lower prescription drug prices. We honor patients, private sector leaders, policy makers, and elected officials who are advocating for patients and fighting for lower drug prices. In doing so, we hope to encourage others to join the fight and continue their good work. We plan to feature our heroes on our social media accounts and blog, lift up their stories in the media and honor them at an event in 2019. If you have someone you want to nominate as a hero, you can do so here.

JOIN US

Patients For Affordable Drugs is the only independent national patient organization focused exclusively on achieving policy changes to lower the price of prescription drugs.