Dems call for trade deal change, citing higher drug prices

More than a hundred congressional Democrats are battling with the Trump administration over semantics: A portion of the pending U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement would lock the U.S. into at least 10 years of marketing exclusivity for biologics. That, they argue, would hurt taxpayers and patients — because the exclusivity would prevent makers of biosimilars from providing lower-cost alternatives to patients.

The Democrats wrote a letter Thursday to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, asking him to change the yet-to-be-ratified language in the trade pact, arguing that the deal “would hinder Congress from taking action to increase competition and enhance patient access to more affordable medicines.”