Open sea­son on PBMs but FTC votes against dig­ging in­to their an­ti-com­pet­i­tive prac­tices fur­ther

The abus­es of phar­ma­cy ben­e­fit man­agers were on full dis­play Thurs­day but the Fed­er­al Trade Com­mis­sion failed in ad­vanc­ing a mo­tion (2-2) to study these phar­ma mid­dle­men in more depth, which could lead to wider in­ves­ti­ga­tions.

FTC com­mis­sion­ers Noah Phillips and Chris­tine Wil­son vot­ed against con­duct­ing an FTC study on PBMs, claim­ing that it was not de­signed to study the com­pet­i­tive ef­fects of the PBMs, and it’s not clear this study would re­veal any­thing about pa­tients’ out-of-pock­et costs, ac­cord­ing to Phillips.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER