Drug middlemen inflate US prices, squeeze out competition, FTC says

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Firms that serve as intermediaries to negotiate and control prescription drug access in the US "wield enormous power," largely with "extraordinarily opaque" business practices, and may be "inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies" for profit, according to a searing interim report released Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission.

Amid a national focus on America's uniquely astronomical drug costs, the FTC is taking aim at firms that largely work deep in the bowels of the country's labyrinthine health care system, well hidden from public understanding and scrutiny: pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).

The top three PBMs in the country currently—CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and Optum Rx—processed nearly 80 percent of the nearly 6.6 billion prescriptions dispensed in 2023.

The two Republican commissioners issued statements expressing concern that the interim report was based on limited data and evidence.

In a response to The New York Times, Justine Sessions, a spokesperson for the PBM Express Scripts, disputed the FTC's report.

"These biased conclusions will do nothing to address the rising prices of prescription medications driven by the pharmaceutical industry," she said.

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7 comments

All you need to know about the US pharmaceutical system is that a for-profit company named GoodRx is profitable by making deals with pharmaceutical companies for better prices for no cost to consumers. And oftentimes the prices they charge are significantly lower than the service that the consumer actually pays money for.
- Love when competition swoops in to save the day.
Why can’t she be president?
- Not born in the USA.
in other news, Grass is green
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Firms that serve as intermediaries to negotiate and control prescription drug access in the US "wield enormous power," largely with "extraordinarily opaque" business practices, and may be "inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies" for profit, according to a searing interim report released Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission.
Amid a national focus on America's uniquely astronomical drug costs, the FTC is taking aim at firms that largely work deep in the bowels of the country's labyrinthine health care system, well hidden from public understanding and scrutiny: pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
The top three PBMs in the country currently—CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and Optum Rx—processed nearly 80 percent of the nearly 6.6 billion prescriptions dispensed in 2023.
The two Republican commissioners issued statements expressing concern that the interim report was based on limited data and evidence.
In a response to The New York Times, Justine Sessions, a spokesperson for the PBM Express Scripts, disputed the FTC's report.
"These biased conclusions will do nothing to address the rising prices of prescription medications driven by the pharmaceutical industry," she said.
The original article contains 612 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 71%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
The system is working as intended.