The Lower Drug Costs Through Competition Act would give the FDA six months to approve generic drugs, for which a brand name version of the active drug has already been authorized. The bill has bipartisan support, and he believes it could be passed as part of the year-end negotiations in President Obama’s lame-duck session. U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader has introduced legislation with bipartisan support that he believes will limit pharmaceutical profiteering and encourage manufacturers to produce gener...
Read more
A bill to encourage faster development of generic drugs has picked up 13 co-sponsors since the pricing controversy over anti-allergy EpiPen auto-injectors erupted, prompting its sponsor to hope it passes this year. “The more we wait, the more they’ll rip off the consumer,” Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., said Friday. Schrader introduced the bill with Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., in March in response to Turing Pharmaceutical’s decision to raise the price of Daraprim, used to treat life-threatening tox...
Read more
Click here to listen to the interview. Mark Mason: Joining us now is Congressman Kurt Schrader from the 5th congressional district welcome back to the Mark Mason show sir. Congressman Kurt Schrader: Hey thanks Mark. MM: We’ve had a lot of talk in the last few weeks about EpiPens and the price spikes and the makers of epi pen saying that you know what were we going to put out a generic version, or at least a less expensive version, this is something though you have seen coming for a long time, I ...
Read more
Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader says headlines about spiraling drug prices have lent new life to his bill that would control medication costs. Early this year, Schrader sponsored a bill to encourage competition between generic drug companies, but it didn’t get anywhere. The idea was to prevent price hiking by people like pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli. He gained international attention after he obtained the manufacturing license for an anti-parasitic drug and raised the price more than...
Read more
The price of the EpiPen has skyrocketed nearly 500% in the last few years, and with no alternatives available, parents are turning to the internet to find cheaper options. The EpiPen is a device that injects epinephrine to reverse allergic reactions from hives and itching to other, potentially deadly reactions. While health care experts are urging parents not to buy alternatives online, Mylan, the only company that makes the drug, says it will finally develop a generic version after coming under...
Read more
Five months before the controversy erupted nationally last week, U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader sponsored legislation to speed up federal approval of generic drugs, such as an injector that delivers a medicine to counteract severe allergic reactions. Schrader, a Democrat who represents Oregon’s 5th District, discussed his bill Wednesday (Aug. 24) as he responded to a question about the soaring price of injectors known as EpiPens. The bill would apply to drug companies, he said, “when they come into a m...
Read more
Five members of Oregon's congressional revealed Tuesday that the feds have forked over $600,000 to help revitalize Willamette Falls. The money will go to Metro, the Portland area's regional government, to address "contamination left over from a now-shuttered industrial site." It will help clean up the site, which had held a paper manufacturer. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader in procuring the funds. “Oregon City is hom...
Read more
“It’s not as bad as you think it is. That’s my message,” began Congressman Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon, while speaking to the Rotary Club of Wilsonville May 5. “I’m going to try to prove it, because all evidence would be to the contrary.” Schrader was there to give an update on the state of the U.S. Congress, where he has served since 2009. Prior to being elected to represent Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, he lived in Canby and worked at his veterinary practice in Oregon City. He also served f...
Read more
Public approval of Congress is near historic lows. Journalists, scholars, and presidential candidates regularly express frustration with Congress’s inability to get anything done. So which members of the U.S. House are skilled at overcoming gridlock and successfully making laws? Building on our existing research on legislative effectiveness in the United States Congress, we have updated our Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) to include those House members who served in the 113th Congress (20...
Read more
Members of Congress in Washington and Oregon introduce a bill to keep labor disputes from hobbling the flow of goods through U.S. ports and hindering the economy. A bill aimed at preventing future work disruptions at U.S. ports has been introduced in the U.S. House by Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore. The bill sets up automatic triggers to start the Taft-Hartley Act process in the event of future labor or management actions disrupting U.S. ports. The Ensuring Continued Opera...
Read more
