The Food Industry Association said 207 organizations support the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Transparency Act (S. 4293), which empowers the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to increase drug pricing transparency.
Proponents of the measure also maintain it holds PBMs accountable for unfair and deceptive practices increasing the costs of prescription drugs at the expense of consumers.
In correspondence to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the Food Industry Association and organizations commended recent efforts of the Commerce Committee to advance the bill.
“This legislation would bring needed transparency to and ultimately stop PBM-insurers’ unjust and deceptive practices, especially as the three largest PBM-insurers now control at least 80 percent of the market,” the organizations wrote. “We hope the full Senate will soon take up this legislation to empower the FTC to bring enforcement actions against the consolidated PBM-insurer industry and their anticompetitive practices, including spread pricing and clawbacks.”
The bill also includes provisions enabling other state officials to bring action to enforce the law if the state attorney general lacks jurisdiction while providing for a Government Accountability Office study of PBM practices.