(Washington, D.C.) — The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) released the following statement today on legislation introduced by Finance Committee members:

“While we’re currently reviewing the legislation, it’s clear that it fails to address the root cause of high prices and appears to buy into the false rhetoric and self-serving agenda of big drug companies. Drug companies, not pharmacy benefit companies, profit immensely from high list prices they alone set and raise.

“Unlike big drug companies, pharmacy benefit companies are compensated based on how effectively they secure savings for employers, patients and taxpayers — serving as the only real check against drug companies’ otherwise unlimited pricing power. Undermining this critical role would play directly into the pharmaceutical industry’s scheme to avoid accountability for their anti-competitive practices and unfaltering commitment to keeping prescription drug prices high, costing all of us as patients and taxpayers.

“Pharmacy benefit companies support lower drug prices and recently applauded several drug companies’ decisions to lower prices on insulin products in the face of public scrutiny. PCMA continues to call on the pharmaceutical industry to reduce their high prices across other therapeutic areas.

“We also call on Congress to hold drug companies accountable for egregious exploitation of pricing power and patent abuses that keep prices high as lawmakers seek real solutions to address the gaps in prescription drug affordability.”

###

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.