Pharma middlemen seem to be driving up drug prices, FTC says

#bigpharma #pharmaceutical #yahoofinance #drugprices

In a scathing interim report, the Federal Trade Commission argues that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) “wield enormous power over patients’ ability to access and afford their prescription drugs, allowing PBMs to significantly influence what drugs are available and at what price.” The report also finds that PBMs hurt independent pharmacies by “imposing unfair, arbitrary, and harmful contractual terms” that can impact their ability to stay in business. The FTC states the three largest PBMs, CVS Caremark (CVS), Cigna’s Express Scripts (CI), and UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx (UNH), “processed nearly 80 percent of the approximately 6.6 billion prescriptions dispensed by U.S. pharmacies in 2023.” In a statement, Cigna rebuffed the FTC’s claims, calling the conclusions “biased,” arguing the findings won’t help bring down prescription medication costs, adding they “look forward to addressing the blatant inaccuracies in the Commission’s initial report.” Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani discusses the FTC’s report in the video above. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts. This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.

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