Cassidy working on rebate legislation

The Senate’s favorite health policy wonk, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), is working on two proposals to rein in drug rebates, he told reporters Thursday. Cassidy was cagey on the specifics of the proposals (though he said they were currently being scored) but he mentioned one idea that really caught my attention: banning biologic companies from using rebates when lower-cost biosimilars are on the market.

The idea would tackle the so-called rebate trap, when branded drug makers might threaten to take back a drug’s rebate if an insurer decides to prefer a cheaper biosimilar. If the threat works, the branded company effectively starves the biosimilar of market share. "I’m not saying we decided on that," Cassidy told me. "But I’m trying to understand this issue and is this what we need to do in order to drive biosimilar adoption here in the United States?”