Congress·In Committee·S. 1818

Sen. Sanders Introduces Bill to End Drug Monopolies for Medicines Priced Higher in U.S. Than Abroad

Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2025

10 months ago·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

Legislative Progress

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Law

Key Points

The bill would compare U.S. brand-name drug prices to the median price in five other wealthy countries — Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan. If the U.S. price is higher, the drug would be labeled "excessively priced."
From policy text
“The Secretary shall determine that any brand name drug for which the domestic average manufacturing price exceeds the median price charged for such drug in the 5 reference countries to have an excessive price.”
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For drugs found to be excessively priced, the government would strip away patent exclusivity and issue open licenses so any company can manufacture and sell a cheaper generic or biosimilar version. Generic applications would get fast-tracked review within 8 months.
From policy text
“shall waive or void any government-granted exclusivities with respect to such drug, effective on the date that the excessive price determination under section 2 is made for such drug”
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Even when international price data isn't available, the Secretary can still declare a drug excessively priced by weighing factors like R&D costs, patient population size, therapeutic benefit, whether prices outpaced inflation, and the drug's cumulative global revenues.
From policy text
“the Secretary shall determine that such drug has an excessive price if the price of the drug is higher than reasonable taking into account the following factors”
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Drug companies would be required to file detailed annual reports covering their U.S. and international prices, R&D spending broken out by category, marketing costs, and global revenues. Failure to comply triggers daily fines of 0.5% to 1% of the drug's gross sales revenue.
From policy text
“not less than 0.5 percent of the gross revenues from sales for the previous calendar year of the drug for which the information was not submitted”
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A public database would be created listing every drug reviewed, whether it was deemed excessively priced, how many generic licenses were granted, and any petitions filed. Anyone — patients, insurers, or advocacy groups — can petition the Secretary to review a specific drug's price.
From policy text
“The Secretary shall establish and maintain a comprehensive, up-to-date database of brand name drugs and the excessive price determinations for such drugs under section 2.”
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Companies that license a drug under this law must sell it below the excessive price threshold and pay a reasonable royalty to the original patent holder — capped at the average pharmaceutical royalty rate reported to the IRS, or an amount set by the Secretary.
From policy text
“a percentage of sales, where the percentage rate is no higher than the average royalty rate estimated from the data provided by the Internal Revenue Service for pharmaceutical manufacturer Federal income tax returns”
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HealthcareEconomy Finance

Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

Who is affectedScoreImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Scores: 1 = low, 5 = highSentiment: -5 to +5 (net benefit)

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

May 20, 2025Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

May 20, 2025

Introduced in Senate

What Happens Next

Projected impacts based on AI analysis

30 days after enactment

Secretary must establish the drug price review process

Within 30 days of enactment, the government would begin building the system to compare U.S. drug prices against five other countries and decide which drugs are overpriced.

January 15 of the year following enactment

Drug companies must file first annual pricing and spending reports

By January 15 of the year after enactment, every brand-name drug maker must disclose their prices in the U.S. and five other countries, R&D costs, marketing spending, and global revenues — or face steep daily fines.

Related Bills

1 bill

H.R. 3546Identical bill

Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2025

May 21 — Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.