(Washington, D-C/Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Members of Iowa’s congressional delegation have introduced legislation they say will help lower drug costs. U.S. Congress for the most part had not met this past week, with most of the attention on national politics focusing on President Donald Trump’s moves to close the U.S. Department of Education and militarize a part of the U.S.-Mexico border. Still, Iowa’s federal legislators introduced several measures this week, including proposals dealing with the cost of pharmaceuticals.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks reintroduced the Delinking Revenue from Unfair Gouging (DRUG) Act Tuesday, a bill focused on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the third-party businesses that negotiate prescription drug prices between drug manufacturers, health insurance companies and pharmacies. The Iowa representative also introduced the measure in 2024.

Miller-Meeks’ proposal would require PBMs to charge a flat fee for their service in negotiating prices on a certain drug instead of charging using a percentage of the drug price. The current practice of charging based on a percentage of the drug’s costs incentivizes PBMs to promote the use of higher-cost medicines, according to a news release from Miller-Meeks’ office, which “takes money away from patients.”

Members of Iowa’s congressional delegation proposed legislation aiming to address high prescription drug prices. (Photo illustration by Clark Kauffman/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

In the Senate, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley co-introduced a bill that would attempt to stop pharmaceutical manufacturers from attempting to shut out competitors by “product hopping.”

“Product hopping” refers to practices by some pharmaceutical companies to coercively move patients using a branded drug that has an expiring patent to a new patented drug in an effort to stop patients from moving to a generic version of the original product. According to a news release from Grassley, some manufacturers use tactics like destroying the inventory of their old product, raising its price or stating it is unsafe in attempts to discourage people from using the drug.

Grassley, alongside Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut and Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, introduced the “Drug Competition Enhancement Act” Monday that would make product hopping” an antitrust violation. Companies engaging in this practice could face enforcement action from the Federal Trade Commission, including being brought to court.

The Iowa Republican said the bipartisan measure would help bring down drug prices by preventing companies from engaging in anti-competitive practices.