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S. 1041119th CongressCommerce
Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act
Sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) · 3 active : 1 Republican, 2 Democrats
Latest action: Held at the desk.
Where it standsBefore the Senate9 senators score as swing votes
Passed Senate
- Senate: passedJul 21, 2026
- House: next
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govAffordable Prescriptions for Patients Act
This bill limits in certain instances the number of patents that the manufacturer of a biologic drug can assert in a lawsuit against a company seeking to sell a biosimilar version of that drug. (A biologic drug is produced through natural processes or isolated from natural sources. A biosimilar version is substantially similar to the original biologic, which is the reference product, and is often marketed as a less expensive alternative.)
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The bill's provisions apply to an existing framework that gives the biosimilar manufacturer an abbreviated path to Food and Drug Administration approval to sell the biosimilar. Specifically, if the biosimilar manufacturer completes certain actions under the framework, such as sharing certain information about its product with the reference product manufacturer, the bill limits the number of certain patents that the reference product manufacturer may assert in a lawsuit, such as patents that were filed more than four years after the reference product received market approval. The limit shall not apply to patents claiming certain methods for using the biologic drug.
The court in which the infringement lawsuit is filed may increase the limit if justice so requires or if there is good cause for the increase.
How the projections held up
Each member’s recorded vote compared with their swing projection from before the vote. A member by voting against most of their own party.
Senate
Passed by voice vote or unanimous consent: no individual votes recorded.
Committees and subjects
Committees
- Senate Committee on the Judiciary · SenateReported by · Markup by · Referred to
Subjects
- Civil actions and liability
- Competition and antitrust
- Consumer affairs
- Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
- Health care costs and insurance
- Inflation and prices
- Intellectual property
- Judicial review and appeals
- Manufacturing
- Prescription drugs
How the Senate breaks down
- 9Swing 70–100
- 59Middle 30–70
- 32Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v2, directional: only movement toward the other party counts, so members who sit further from the center than their party no longer score as swing votes.
Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
3 activeShow all 3 cosponsors
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
- Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
