Grassley continues work for transparency of drug company money in medicine

WASHINGTON --- Senator Chuck Grassley has asked leaders among pharmacy benefit
managers, or PBMs, to describe their efforts to enhance the transparency of financial benefits
they receive from drug makers. Grassley also has asked the PBMs for their views on
recommendations from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission that PBMs be subject to a
national disclosure requirement.

The bipartisan Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which Grassley co-authored with
Senator Herb Kohl, would require annual public reporting by drug, device and biologic
manufacturers of payments made to physicians nationwide.

For several years, Grassley has conducted extensive oversight and sought disclosure of
industry financial ties with several groups including research physicians, medical schools,
medical journals, continuing medical education companies, and patient advocacy non-profit
organizations. He has found cases where there was vast disparity between drug-company
payments received and reported by leading medical researchers.

In response to Grassley’s work, the National Institutes of Health soon will enact new
disclosure guidelines for federal grant recipients. A number of drug companies have begun
disclosing financial relationships voluntarily

“I’m interested in meaningful transparency,” Grassley said. “Letting the sun shine in and
making information public is basic to building people’s confidence in medicine.”

Grassley’s letters CVS Caremark Corporation, Express Scripts, Inc. and the
Pharmaceutical Care Management Association are posted with this news release at
http://finance.senate.gov.

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