General Law Committee
JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT
Bill No.: SB-138
AN ACT REQUIRING MANUFACTURERS OF BRAND NAME PRESCRIPTION
DRUGS TO PROVIDE SAMPLES OF SUCH DRUGS TO MANUFACTURERS
Title: OF GENERIC PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.
Vote Date: 3/10/2020
Vote Action: Joint Favorable
PH Date: 2/27/2020
File No.:
Disclaimer: The following JOINT FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
The General Law Committee
REASONS FOR BILL:
To promote competition in the prescription drug market by allowing developers of generic drugs
and biosimilar products to obtain reference samples.
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
Senator Martin Looney is in support of SB 138. This legislation is similar to that adopted in
Maine in 2018 (LD 1280). SB 138 would require that brand name pharmaceutical
manufacturers in the state comply with federal law and make available, at a fair market price
samples of their drugs to generic manufacturers. It requires that drugs distributed in
Connecticut be made available for sale to an FDA-approved generic drug manufacturer that
is seeking to develop a more affordable alternative. Denying samples to generic drug
manufacturers is a common strategy used by the brand name manufacturers in order to deny
the generic entry into the market. This bill would be one step towards increasing access to
affordable prescription drugs.
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
[Click here and Enter Nature and Sources of Support]
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America opposed SB 138 because it seeks
to mandate manufacturers of branded medicines to provide its products to any other drug or
biologic manufacturer in a manner which is duplicative of, and in conflict with, recently-
enacted federal law in this space. SB 138 attempts to advance the same policy objective that
is already addressed by the CREATES Act: ensuring provision of samples to developers by
innovators. Enacting SB 138 is therefore unnecessary. In addition to being duplicative of
federal law, SB 138 would be inconsistent with federal law, disrupting the federal objective
underlying CREATES and raising preemption concerns. The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has taken steps to address the issue of obtaining samples for generic drug
development, all of which eliminates the need for SB 138 even before CREATES was signed.
Angela Gochenaur; Eastern Director of Government Affairs, at The Biotechnology Innovation
Organization (BIO) opposes SB 138 as it seeks to criminalize intellectual property resolutions
that occur on a nation-wide basis, in many cases completely outside the State of Connecticut.
Connecticut has significant powers to regulate commercial conduct within its borders. It does
not, however, possess the authority to criminalize conduct that occurs outside of Connecticut
or otherwise on a national level. We urge the State to abandon a flawed single-state effort in
favor of helping to support a robust national solution that will end abusive conduct once and
for all.
Reported by: Jeff Lucas Date: 3/23/20
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