Petition to the Senate:
The 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 6) is a huge giveaway to pharmaceutical and medical device companies. If passed, it would enable drug companies to commit fraud by marketing drugs for purposes not approved by the FDA, monopolize life-saving drugs for rare illnesses, and roll back rules requiring drug and device companies to disclose payments and gifts to doctors. Please vote "NO" when the 21st Century Cures Act comes up for a vote in the Senate.
Donald Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” but instead, just weeks after the election, there is a lobbying feeding frenzy on a bill called the “21st Century Cures Act.”
Three lobbyists for every member of Congress are working on this legislation. Like many other bad bills, the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 6) is not what it sounds like.
It would legalize fraud by allowing pharmaceutical companies to market drugs for uses not approved by the FDA, and monopolize life-saving drugs by extending the amount of time generics can be kept off the market for rare diseases.
In short, the 21st Century Cures Act is a big, wet kiss to Big Pharma.
It even scraps the rules requiring drug and device companies to disclose the gifts, trips, and junkets they give to doctors and hospitals.
That means medical providers like Farhad Zangeneh, a Virginia doctor specializing in diabetes who received over 1600 payments from drug companies in 2014, including over $160,000 in travel and lodging, could continue to receive lavish gifts without reporting any of it.
Sponsor Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan) says the bill is about allowing the healthcare industry to innovate.
We need innovation, but not with risks to patient safety and legalized fraud as the trade-off.
This bill hasn’t made much of a splash outside Washington until recently. And even though the House passed it this week, if enough people tell their Senators to stop this giveaway to Big Pharma, we have a chance to kill this bill for good.
Sign the petition: Tell your Senator to stop the 21st Century Cures Act!