(Washington, D.C.) — Today, David Marin, President and CEO of PCMA, joined a hearing at the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee focused on prescription drug affordability. The hearing, following the recent enactment of significant pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) legislation, includes representatives from the full prescription drug supply chain. Below is Marin’s opening testimony and linked here is PCMA’s full written testimony.

Good morning, Chairman Griffith, Ranking Member DeGette, members of the subcommittee. Thank you for having me here today.

My name is David Marin. I am the president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.

It’s a role I’ve been in for all of three weeks now… I appreciate you wasting no time having me come in.

I actually am pleased to be here today. To have the chance to talk about the critical role PBMs play to make health care more affordable, accessible, and safe, and the ways our companies are evolving to respond to the market, to patients, and to policymakers.

I am also pleased that we have the full drug supply chain represented here. Each of us has a job to do getting people the medications they need. To ensure affordability.

Before going any further though, Mr. Chairman, I’d like to acknowledge that as an association, we have failed you. We have not done a good enough job articulating PBMs’ value to you. We have not been the partner you need. We are going to change that.

But I also have to say, in just a few short days, it’s become clear to me: we have allowed other sectors, including some here today, to misrepresent us – often wildly so – and cloud the facts for policymakers and the public.

Some have spent millions and millions of dollars to convince you that the ones who make drugs cheaper – PBMs – are the problem.

It’s a remarkable achievement really, and I tip my cap to my pharma friends. A master class in persuasion that should be taught in lobbyist school.

But there’s also – pardon me, Mr. Chairman – a lot of bunk out there. And it’s my job to clear that up

My commitment to you today is that we will work with this committee to answer your questions, be a better partner, and help advance solutions that will make it easier and more affordable for your constituents to get the medications they need.

Our companies are already doing so. They have increased transparency, increased reimbursement for independent pharmacies, created new models that align incentives and maximize savings for employers and patients. Their evolution continues. The PBM industry today is not the same one of ten… five…or even two years ago.

No one has to hire a PBM. They do so because medicines can be extraordinarily expensive – often breathtakingly so – and they need someone to help hold down those costs.

PBMs do a lot. They use their leverage to drive discounts. They administer the drug benefit for patients. They promote patient safety – guarding against potentially harmful drug interactions and supporting drug adherence. This stuff is hard.

Here are some facts: prescription drugs are more affordable for patients because of the work PBMs do. We saved more than 300 billion dollars last year for the 289 million people we serve. Generic drugs are more often filled because of the work PBMs do… 90% of all fills are generics. Taxpayers save money because of the work PBMs do. Independent pharmacies are reimbursed at a higher rate than big chain ones. Employers have transparency because we are accountable to them.

Yes, drug prices are still too high. Without PBMs, they would be much, much higher.

Congress just approved far-reaching legislation that impacts our industry. Transparency requirements. Full rebate pass through. Delinking. It won’t surprise this committee that we believe these mandates were both unnecessary and harmful to our shared goal of affordability.

But now we hope to move forward with you. To focus on the issues at the core of our affordability challenges. To demonstrate the value of the improvements PBMs are already making.

And to address the root causes of high drug prices. Not only do drug companies enjoy extraordinary government protections from competition, they then game the system over and over to further prevent competition and block generics from reaching patients.

And the massive drug wholesalers and PSAOs, really one in the same, wield enormous power over the prices of generic drugs and what pharmacies pay for medicines – with essentially no oversight.

We hope that the committee can broaden its inquiry into these and other parts of the supply chain. Competition has to be at the core of our affordability mission. When there is competition, prices come down and the promise of pharmaceutical innovation can actually be enjoyed by the people who need it.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for having me and I look forward to working with this committee.