Dear Senator Durbin,

I read with dismay the news that the Eshoo-Barton amendment was part of the House Health Care Reform bill instead of the Waxman-Deal amendment.

According to Jane Hamsher at firedoglake.com, adopting the Eshoo-Barton language means,

there will be no generic versions of these [lifesaving biologic] drugs. At least not for 12 years, if the House health care bill announced today passes. And because of an “evergreening” clause that grants drug companies a continued monopoly if they make slight changes to the drug (like creating a once-a-day dose where the original product was three times per day), they will never become generics. Instead of the Waxman-Deal amendment that granted much more reasonable terms to biologic patent holders, Speaker Pelosi chose the Eshoo-Barton amendment. And we could all be paying for that choice for the rest of our lives.

Here is the blog post which also debunks some of the business arguments for keeping these drugs unavailable as generics.

http://tinyurl.com/yl9x5ze

I urge you to work in the conference committee to make these important lifesaving drugs affordable to patients who need them now.

Sincerely,