Attorney General Bonta Leads Multistate Amicus Brief in Support of Drug Pricing Transparency

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today led 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Pharmaceutical Res. & Manufacturers of Am. v. Stolfi in support of laws that increase drug price transparency. The amicus brief, filed before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, supports Oregon's defense of House Bill 4005, an Oregon law that requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to report certain information about specific new prescription drugs and historical information about pricing for existing drugs. Oregon’s House Bill 4005 is similar to a 2017 California law, Senate Bill 17.

“As prescription drug prices continue to escalate across our country, the need for state-level action to protect residents from predatory pricing practices has never been more urgent,” said Attorney General Bonta. “That’s why today I’m leading a multi-state coalition of attorneys general nationwide to support Oregon’s drug price transparency law. High prescription drug prices threaten peoples’ access to care, and can result in worsening medical conditions, declining health outcomes, and even death. Together, we can create a healthcare system that prioritizes the well-being of our people over the profits of pharmaceutical companies.”

Oregon’s House Bill 4005, passed in 2018, aims to increase transparency in drug pricing, to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for price hikes, and to help control the rising cost of prescription drugs for Oregon residents. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), a trade association representing some of the largest drug manufacturers in the United States, filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Oregon, challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 4005. The district court ruled, in part, in favor of PhRMA, and Oregon appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

California has a similar law, Senate Bill 17, which aims to protect consumers from drastic increases in the price of pharmaceutical drugs. SB 17 similarly requires that manufacturers report specified information when there is an increase in a drug’s list price. Using data obtained under SB 17, the California Department of Managed Health Care evaluates the impact that prescription drug costs have on health plan premiums. And, both California state agencies and the Department of Justice have been utilizing this law in enforcement matters. Laws like Oregon’s House Bill 4005 and California’s SB 17 help to hold pharmaceutical manufacturers accountable for increases in the price of prescription drugs and allow States to collect and analyze relevant data to inform solutions to contain the prices of drugs necessary to our residents’ health.

According to a 2019 Gallup-West Health National Healthcare Study, more than 13 percent of American adults—or about 34 million people—reported knowing of at least one friend or family member in the past five years who died after not receiving needed medical treatment because they were unable to pay for it. In the amicus brief, the coalition argues that state laws like Oregon’s serve important state interests, as recent dramatic increases in drug pricing impose harms on states and their residents. The amicus brief also highlights the various measures that a bipartisan group of states have adopted to hold pharmaceutical manufacturers accountable, including laws promoting drug price transparency. Further, the brief emphasizes the importance of laws that collect data to provide greater understanding of drug spending and help guide policy solutions to address high drug costs.

In filing today’s amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.