APhA applauds FTC action on PBMs’ alleged inflation of insulin drug prices

WASHINGTON, DC — Michael D. Hogue, PharmD, FAPhA, FNAP, FFIP, executive vice president and CEO of APhA, commended the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) action today against alleged practices by large vertically integrated pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) “for engaging in anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices that have artificially inflated the list price of insulin drugs, impaired patients’ access to lower list price products, and shifted the cost of high insulin list prices to vulnerable patients.”

“APhA and our member pharmacists have known about the highly corrupt practices of PBMs for years, and APhA alerted our members in July of potential action by FTC,” said Hogue. “The 2-year investigation tells us what we already know—PBMs must be held accountable for the immense pain they have caused patients across the country. This is a huge win for patients, who should never be in a position of paying inflated prices at the counter to feed PBMs’ addiction to profits at the expense of hardworking trusted community pharmacists.”

FTC’s action today is likely only the tip of the iceberg of necessary reforms to end PBMs’ harmful business practices that have directly led to the lights going out for thousands of independent pharmacies, taking away the only form of health care for many Americans and driving up the cost many patients pay for their medications.

“Our message is this: change is coming,” said Hogue. “APhA will continue our work with FTC and Congress to end PBMs’ harmful business practices, protect our patients, keep pharmacy doors open, and restore competition to the health care marketplace.”

APhA recently launched a public-facing campaign to “End PBM Harmful Practices Now,” for consumers to contact their elected officials and urge them to take action on federal PBM reform. We urge fellow pharmacists, patients, and consumers to join us in this fight!

###