ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Federal Trade Commission should sue to block Prime Therapeutics LLC/Express Scripts from acquiring Magellan RX Management, says the National Community Pharmacists Association in a letter to Holly Vedova, director to the FTC’s Bureau of competition.
If the merger were to proceed, it would allow Express Scripts/Prime to steer patients even more easily to its own mail-order pharmacies for specialty drugs and potentially supply it with valuable insight into claims-level data on competitors currently using Magellan.
“Express Scripts/Prime’s combined market power has already enabled each of them to impose unfair fees and claw backs, impose take-it-or-leave-it contracts that often reimburse independent pharmacies less than their costs of acquisition, and steer patients to PBM-owned pharmacies,” said B. Douglas Hoey, CEO, NCPA. “It has also harmed patients by refusing access to affordable drugs through formulary exclusions, imposing sometimes unnecessary and burdensome step."
The NCPA has been outspoken in its efforts to reform PBMs, including securing a victory when the FTC agreed to implement a formal study of PBMs.
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