Targeting the one player in the prescription drug supply chain that actually lowers prescription drug costs won’t help patients. Real affordability requires a broader approach, argues David Marin, President and CEO of PCMA, in a new op-ed.

Marin explains that recent efforts to further regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) will not reduce prescription drug costs because they focus on only one part of a complex system while overlooking others, including wholesalers and big drugmakers. He notes:

“If the goal is truly to lower prescription drug costs for patients, families and employers, public policy cannot focus exclusively on one of the smallest slices of that pie while ignoring the largest.” 

He emphasizes that employers, labor unions, and government health plans hire PBMs because they help negotiate lower costs and improve access to medicines.

“PBMs are the only entity in the prescription drug supply chain whose primary role is to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of employers, labor unions, government programs, and patients. Today, PBMs save more than $1,100 per person annually for the 289 million Americans whose prescription benefits they manage.” 

The op-ed also challenges the notion that additional PBM regulations will meaningfully improve affordability. He notes that in Virginia, more than 25 laws regulating PBMs have been passed in the last decade, but prescription drug costs continue to skyrocket:

“Employers, governments and union health plans hire PBMs to help provide the families they cover with affordable access to prescription drugs… Attacking PBMs will never lower drug prices because it’s going after the wrong part of the supply chain.”  

Marin urges policymakers to pursue reforms that address affordability across the entire prescription drug supply chain. He lays out three ideas, reflected in PCMA’s Path to Patient Affordability, that policymakers can implement to unlock lower drug costs for American families:

• They could put in place policy to encourage doctors to use electronic prescribing tools that show patients their lowest-cost drug options before they get to the pharmacy.
• Or increase transparency around prescription drug wholesalers, enormous companies that have huge power over generic drug prices but operate completely in the shadows.
• Or rein in direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements that drive needless demand for high-cost drugs and can mislead patients. 

Marin concludes with a call for policymakers to focus on the actors that are truly driving prescription drug costs and pursue reforms that improve affordability for patients, employers, and taxpayers. As he writes, “If policymakers are serious about affordability, they should examine every part of the prescription drug supply chain.” 

Read Marin’s full op-ed HERE and explore PCMA’s Path to Patient Affordability HERE.