The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently voted unanimously to turn up the heat on the middlemen of the drug supply chain. The agency is opening up an investigation into Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs) for their role in “raising the price that consumers pay for medicine,” among other questionable behaviors.
For years, PBMs have used their position as gatekeepers to the consumer market to enrich themselves and insurance companies — conduct that has attracted the attention of regulators, policymakers, and the public as consumer drug costs balloon. Since the year 2000, spending in the U.S. on pharmaceuticals has nearly tripled.
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