TESTIMONY TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE
(Date) Testimony of (Name) (Title) (Organization) On House Bill (Number)
Thank you, Chairman (Name), Chairman (Name) and Members of the Committee on Health Care Financing for the opportunity to testify this afternoon. My name is (Name) and I am the (Title, Organization). (Organization) represents (number) members, comprised of companies, teaching hospitals, and academic institutions, the majority of which are directly engaged in research, development, and manufacturing of novel therapies and technologies that improve lives around the world and contribute to the economic strength in the region. (Organization) is proud to be part of (State)’s vibrant biomedical research and development community, which by most accounts, ranks first in the world for medical discovery and innovation. I commend you for your consideration of House Bill (Number). In particular, I would like to applaud the work of Representative (Name) and you, Chairman (Name) for taking the time to learn about this complex issue, and leading this effort to provide the necessary pathway for patients to access lower cost interchangeable Biosimilars, while also ensuring that patients and physicians are notified of medication changes. (Organization) worked with (Organization) and our member companies to develop a set of five principals that we believe should govern the substitution of Biologics. I would like to mention the five principles and highlight that (State) is in a position to once again be a leader in creating another groundbreaking law related to health care. The first two are fairly straight forward: • Substitution should occur only when the FDA has designated a biologic product as interchangeable • The prescribing physician should be able to prevent substitution The other three are vitally important to protecting the patients who are benefiting from these breakthrough therapies: • The prescribing physician should be notified of the substitution • The patient, or the patient’s authorized representative, should, at a minimum, be notified of the substitution • The pharmacist and the physician should keep records of the substitution We are extremely pleased that House Bill (Number) includes all five of our principals, and therefore ask you to support the passage of this important bill. As you have heard in other testimony, biologic medicines are different from the traditional chemically synthesized small molecule medications that you are used to dealing with from a policy perspective. Biologic
Examples have been provided by advocacy and professional societies and have been de-identified. For illustrative purposes only.
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