Patients For Affordable Drugs Now Responds To Federal Trade Commission’s Scathing Report On Pharmacy Benefit Managers
FTC Confirms PBMs Inflate Drug Costs, Harm Patients
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now (P4ADNow) issued the following statement in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) bipartisan interim staff report on Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs):
“It will come as no surprise that the FTC’s report confirms what patients have long suspected: the largest PBMs wield significant control over which drugs are available for patients and at what price,” said Merith Basey, Executive Director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “While PBMs were designed to benefit patients, in reality, they exploit their power to inflate drug costs. We commend the FTC for its report and ongoing investigation into these harmful practices.”
“Make no mistake, while PBM reform is urgently needed to bring true transparency to the PBM black box to lower drug prices for patients, Big Pharma should not be excluded from the narrative. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans cannot afford their prescription drugs largely due to drug companies’ abuses of the patent system and their ability to set and raise drug prices with impunity. P4ADNow remains committed to system-changing reforms that prioritize patients over Big Pharma and PBMs profits.”
Key findings from the report reveal:
- That PBMs “wield enormous power and influence” and their practices “can have dire consequences for Americans.”
- The market for PBMs has become highly concentrated with the largest PBMs now also vertically integrated with large health insurance companies as well as specialty and retail pharmacies.
- Just three PBMs process 80 percent of prescriptions filled in the U.S., while the top six process 90 percent.
- Due to their size and integration, PBMs have significant control over which drugs are available to patients, at what price, and where patients can access them.
- Vertically integrated PBMs prefer their own affiliated businesses, creating conflicts of interest that can disadvantage unaffiliated pharmacies which increases prescription drug costs for patients.
- PBMs negotiate agreements and higher rebates with drug manufacturers that limit access to cheaper generic alternatives from the PBM’s formulary, stifling competition.
- By paying their own pharmacies more than wholesale cost, PBMs were able to generate $1.6 billion in extra revenue for the three largest PBMs in three years, while patients with cancer were struggling to afford their life-saving medications.
P4ADNow supports reforms aimed at increasing transparency and curbing anti-competitive practices of PBMs, including key provisions in the Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability Act (S. 2973) for its transparency requirements, the Better Mental Health Care, Lower-Cost Drugs, and Extenders Act (S 3430) for its reporting provisions, as well as the Lower Cost, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378), aiming for reforms that prioritize patients and consumers.
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Patients for Affordable Drugs NOW, is the only national, bipartisan patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies to lower drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients and allies, hold accountable those in power, and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4ADNOW does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs. To learn more visit PatientsForAffordableDrugsNOW.org.