S. 1041 · 119th Congress · Commerce
Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act
How the Senate voted
Yea from the left, nay from the right, each side by party
Senate · Jul 21, 2026
Passed by unanimous consent.
Passed the Senate on July 21, 2026.
Latest action: Held at the desk
- IntroducedMar 13, 2025
- CommitteeApr 10, 2025
- Passed SenateJul 21, 2026
- Passed House
- Became law
On the record
- Cosponsors
- 3
- 2 Democrats, 1 Republican
- Senate committee
- Judiciary
- Lobbying
- At least 35
- organizations named it2025 Q1 to 2026 Q3
What it does
The bill amends the federal patent law that governs lawsuits over biosimilar drugs.
The bill amends the federal patent law that governs lawsuits over biosimilar drugs. In an infringement action against a company seeking approval of a biosimilar, it limits a brand-name biologic's sponsor to asserting no more than 20 patents of one kind: patents on the list the two companies exchange that were filed more than four years after the brand-name product was approved, or that claim a manufacturing method the sponsor does not use. No more than 10 of those may be patents that issued after a set statutory date. It also expands what counts as infringement in a biosimilar filing to reach any patent claiming the product, a method of using it, or a method or product used to make it. Courts may raise the 20 patent cap for good cause, and patents claiming a method of using the product in therapy, diagnosis, or prophylaxis are exempt from the cap. The cap applies only when the biosimilar applicant completes the disclosure steps required under the patent exchange process.
Each stop is a step the bill’s own record states, with the date it happened. A ring is a step not yet taken. A bill becomes law when the President signs it or Congress overrides a veto.
At least 35 organizations named this measure in a lobbying filing. A floor, not a total: they were counted by the client name on 241 quarterly reports filed by 13 lobbying firms and by 25 organizations lobbying for themselves in 2025 Q1, 2025 Q2, 2025 Q3, 2025 Q4, 2026 Q1, 2026 Q2 and 2026 Q3. An organization that lobbied this measure without naming it is not counted here.
The filings record that lobbying was reported on the measure. The form has no per-bill dollar figure and no field for a position, so nothing here says how much was spent or which side an organization took.
5 of them, in no ranking: Association for Accessible Medicines; T1international USA; Intellectual Property Owners Association; The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing; AARP. Listed as filed, in the order the filings were read, and 30 others are not shown. These are not the largest, the earliest or the most active: we keep five names per measure, and the filings give no ranking.
From the LD-2 quarterly lobbying filings published at lda.gov by the Senate Office of Public Records. Read for 2025 Q1, 2025 Q2, 2025 Q3, 2025 Q4, 2026 Q1, 2026 Q2 and 2026 Q3. Our copy holds 24 fewer filings for 2025 Q1, 39 fewer filings for 2025 Q2, 42 fewer filings for 2025 Q3, 33 fewer filings for 2025 Q4, 28 fewer filings for 2026 Q1, 48 fewer filings for 2026 Q2 and 218 fewer filings for 2026 Q3 than the Senate's register counts, so those quarters are the filings we could read rather than every one filed. 2026 Q4 is still inside its filing window, so that quarter is only the filings posted so far.
Congress.gov bill status and cosponsor records; the House Clerk and Senate roll calls; lobbying reports filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (lda.gov); the plain summary and provisions are read from the bill text, each with its section.