Wyden and Brown Urge FTC to Investigate Emerging Anti-Competitive Practices by PBMs
As Congress and FTC Continue to Investigate and Address the Role of Pharma Middlemen in High Drug Costs, Leading Senators Highlight Concerning New Practices Known as “Co-Manufacturing”
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Finance Committee Member Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, today urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to expand its work into additional anti-competitive practices by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that the industry may be using to put up barriers to competition and take in larger revenues.
“The concern with these ‘co-manufacturing’ agreements is that they are a veiled attempt by PBMs to control additional parts of the supply chain which has resulted in additional harm to consumers in the form of fewer drug choices and higher drug costs,” the senators wrote. “We urge the FTC to examine new PBM tactics that appear to create further barriers to competition and harm the ability of consumers to access lower cost prescription drugs. It is important we keep a watchful eye on the evolving tactics of PBM megafirms as they proceed with owning more and more of the prescription drug supply chain.”
In July, the FTC released an interim report outlining how the concentrated market structure PBMs operate in allows them to profit at the expense of American patients and independent pharmacists. In September, the FTC filed a lawsuit challenging the unfair methods of competition by pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) that lead to increased costs Americans must pay for pharmaceutical products.
The Finance Committee produced legislation last year to address some of the most significant PBM practices through the Medicare program.
The full letter can be found here.
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