Ed Silverman , 2025-04-15 00:03:00
Dozens of state attorneys general are urging Congress to pass a law prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers from simultaneously owning pharmacies, arguing such a move would boost competition and create more affordable prescription drug prices for Americans.
Their concern is these arrangements create conflicts of interest that allow pharmacy benefits managers to dominate the design of health plans for tens of millions of Americans, and also distort the distribution and pricing for prescription medicines. The companies are able to do so, the attorneys general maintained, by favoring their own affiliated pharmacies at the expense of independent drug stores.
In an April 14 letter to the leaders of the House and Senate, the state officials noted that each of the six largest pharmacy benefit managers operate their own affiliated pharmacies, and five of them are also a part of conglomerates that operate insurance companies and health care clinics. Some have opened their own manufacturing subsidiaries or purportedly reached co-manufacturing agreements with drugmakers.
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