Berkshire Senior Online

The Gray Panthers have founded the Stop Patient Abuse Now - SPAN Coalition to address tactics by pharmaceutical companies that are forcing consumers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more than necessary each year for critical medicine.

Some groups that have already joined the coalition include: the National Organization for Women, Congress of California Seniors, Action Alliance of Seniors (PA), New York AIDS Coalition, New York State Wide Senior Action Council, and Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network.

In March, SPAN filed a class-action lawsuit against Bristol-Myers Squibb for registering unlawful patents to prevent competition for the anti-anxiety drug BuSpar. Bristol reaped nearly $200 million in sales before a federal judge forced the company to remove the patent. As a result, less-costly competitors were allowed to enter the marketplace. The suit will help consumers recover damages.

This week, the National Organization for Women (NOW) announced that it will lead a new class-action suit against Bristol-Myers Squibb for the same tactics used to prevent patient access to lower-priced versions of Taxol, a treatment for breast and ovarian cancer.

SPAN members have pledged to file additional suits when necessary. For example, we are carefully monitoring the situation surrounding expiration of the patent on the heartburn drug Prilosec. The top-selling drug, produced by AstraZeneca, will face competition in October after 14 years. Unfortunately, the company has indicated it intends to file new patents that could prevent consumer access to less-costly versions of the drug for many additional years. Astra-Zeneca receives $11 million from the drug each day it can prevent competition.

The suits are intended to recover patient overpayments, pressure the companies to stop delaying competition, and convince Congress to remove loopholes in the law that are exploited by the drug companies. Patricia Ireland of NOW announced at a national press conference recently that, "Until congressional leaders take action, we will hold corporations like Bristol-Myers Squibb accountable for their unfair business practices."

SPAN’s goal is not to undermine the patents that allow drug companies to protect their products, but to make sure that competitors can market lower priced alternatives when the patents expire - as Congress intended. That’s why SPAN wants to stop pharmaceutical companies from manipulating legal loopholes, and preventing competition after patents expire.