(Washington, D.C.) — Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO JC Scott issued the following statement on the Biden administration’s plan for high drug prices:
“While we review the recently released Comprehensive Plan for Addressing High Drug Prices report, America’s pharmacy benefit managers, PBMs, applaud the Administration for its focus on reducing prescription drug costs for patients by increasing competition in the market. Specifically, we are encouraged by the emphasis on curbing practices that block generic and biosimilar competition.
“The Administration’s drug pricing plan aligns with key concepts recently outlined in The Critical Path Forward, the PBM industry’s recommendations for addressing drug costs. PCMA supports policies to increase competition by eliminating drug manufacturers’ use of patent thickets, exclusivity extensions, evergreening, and other price-protection tactics as well as greater adoption of value-based purchasing arrangements.
“In addition, PBMs support updating Medicare Part D by setting an annual limit on beneficiary out-of-pocket spending in conjunction with enhanced manufacturer responsibility throughout the benefit phases and additional tools for managing costs.
“We are also aligned with the Biden administration on the importance of transparency. PBMs support and practice actionable transparency that enables patients, physicians, and health plan sponsors to make informed decisions on managing drug costs, and Congress and regulators to create policies to lower drug costs.
“PBMs have a proven track record of reducing prescription drug costs for patients in the private and commercial health care sectors. Creating more competition among brand-name drugs will give PBMs even more leverage to further reduce costs. We believe that competition is the key to reducing drug costs.”
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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs administer prescription drug plans for more than 266 million Americans who have health insurance from a variety of sponsors including: commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, union plans, Medicare Part D plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), state government employee plans, Medicaid plans, and others.
