Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) shakes hands with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Sen­ate com­mit­tee ad­vances bi­par­ti­san PBM, FDA re­forms with eight re­lat­ed amend­ments

The Sen­ate Health, Ed­u­ca­tion, La­bor and Pen­sions com­mit­tee on Thurs­day ad­vanced four new bills re­lat­ed to PBM and FDA re­forms, as well as eight bi­par­ti­san amend­ments that would re­quire phar­ma com­pa­nies to dis­close R&D costs, as well to re­move gag claus­es em­ployed by PBMs, among oth­er pro­vi­sions.

On the over­all PBM re­form bill, law­mak­ers on both sides of the aisle large­ly agreed to pro­vide for in­creased over­sight of PBMs, in­clud­ing the ban­ning of spread pric­ing — when a PBM charges pay­ers for drugs more than they pay the phar­ma­cy — and a re­quire­ment that PBMs pass through 100% of man­u­fac­tur­er re­bates, dis­counts and fees.

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