In a follow-up to the interim FTC report documenting the business practices of PBMs and the power they hold in the pharmaceutical industry, the Commission now seeks to sue the 3 largest PBMs in the country for driving up the price of insulin and other essential drugs.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing to sue the 3 biggest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for their role in negotiating unfair drug prices for patients and driving up the prices of key drugs like insulin, the details of which were released in an interim report by the Commission, according to multiple sources.1-5
The report analyzed the practices of PBMs, writing that they exercised their immense influence to hike up the prices of drugs that patients rely on while simultaneously disadvantaging independent pharmacies and patients across the country.2
CVS Health’s Caremark, Cigna Group’s Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx are some of the largest health care firms in the country; these 3 firms are poised to be challenged by the FTC in court for their allegedly unfair business practices.3
In a statement released regarding the interim report, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) called for continued investigations and federal action, saying the report “should leave no doubt that these massive health care conglomerates are creating unfair advantages for themselves that are driving up costs for consumers, limiting consumer choices, and killing access to quality pharmacy care.”4
One key profit source for PBMs, the rebates that drug companies pay to acquire certain medications on a list of covered drugs, are a target for federal officials and patient advocacy groups due to the propensity of these rebates to inflate drug costs. A lawsuit against these PBMs could be filed within the month.5
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