In case you missed it, JC Scott, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), sat down with Axios’ Peter Sullivan to discuss the current prescription drug pricing debate in Washington. Here are several highlights from the interview:

“I think that people are sleeping on how much change is occurring right now in the PBM marketplace … in terms of new programs on out-of-pocket costs, in terms of how we work with retail pharmacies, in terms of the embrace of transparency that we see in the market.”

Scott explains why proposed legislation is misguided:

“One thing that is missing from that, I will just say, is any real focus on the list prices set by pharma. This last provision around mandating 100% rebate pass-through in the commercial market, saying all contracts have to be the same — that is where it runs directly headlong against the principle that we stand for, which is those clients should have the right to choose [how they want to pay PBMs].”

Specifically, Scott discusses Big Pharma’s aggressive push to undermine the critical role PBMs play in driving down prescription drug costs – advocating for policies that interfere with the private market, increase health care costs, boost drug company profits, and do nothing to lower prescription drug costs for patients and families.

“[Pharma has put] millions of dollars into advertising campaigns to try and define our industry and set the terms of this debate. And that is problematic because that misses the fundamental value proposition of what our companies do to lower costs, and it muddies the water, and it’s not constructive.”

Read the full interview HERE.

Learn more about the value of PBMs from academics HERE.

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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit companies. Pharmacy benefit companies are working every day to secure savings, enable better health outcomes, and support access to quality prescription drug coverage for more than 275 million patients.