Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2025
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
The Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2025 establishes a framework for identifying and addressing excessively priced brand-name drugs in the U.S. by comparing domestic prices to the median price in five reference countries (Canada, UK, Germany, France, Japan). If a drug is found to be excessively priced, the Secretary of HHS can revoke government-granted patent exclusivities and issue open, non-exclusive licenses allowing generic or biosimilar manufacturers to produce the drug, subject to reasonable royalties. The bill also requires annual manufacturer pricing reports, creates a public database of excessive price determinations, mandates expedited FDA review for licensed generics, and authorizes civil actions against manufacturers who raise prices after an excessive-price finding. Public petition rights allow anyone to request a price review.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Lower prescription drug prices by allowing the government to revoke patent exclusivities and grant open licenses for brand-name drugs priced excessively compared to five reference countries (Canada, UK, Germany, France, Japan), with mandatory manufacturer reporting, a public database, and reasonable royalty requirements.
Who Benefits
- U.S. patients paying high drug prices
- Generic and biosimilar manufacturers
- Federal and state purchasers of drugs
Who Bears Costs
- Brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers
- Patent holders
Key Policy Areas
Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals
Primary Purpose
Lower prescription drug prices by allowing the government to revoke patent exclusivities and grant open licenses for brand-name drugs priced excessively compared to five reference countries (Canada, UK, Germany, France, Japan), with mandatory manufacturer reporting, a public database, and reasonable royalty requirements.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Use international reference pricing as leverage to revoke patent monopolies for overpriced drugs, creating competitive market pressure without direct price controls"
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Merkley, …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Brand-name drug manufacturers, Brand-name drug patent holders, Brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers
Positive-direction: Generic and biosimilar manufacturers, Generic licensees
Negative-direction: Brand-name drug manufacturers, Brand-name drug patent holders, Brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers, Patent holders receiving royalties
Consumers and advocacy organizations, Drug purchasers and patients, U.S. drug consumers and patients
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Drug approved under 505(c) of FFDCA or 351(a) of PHS Act
Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology