PhRMA calls on Congress to ensure savings go to patients, not PBMs

The US trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) today launched new advertisements urging Congress to make sure savings on medicines go to patients, not middlemen.

The ad highlights how middlemen, like pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and insurers, use medicines as a profit center while driving up costs for patients and the health care system.

PhRMA pointed out that PBMs and insurers get billions in rebates and discounts on medicines, yet they often refuse to pass these savings on to patients at the pharmacy counter. Rebates can lower the average price that PBMs and insurers pay for medicines by more than 50%, but patients rarely benefit directly from these savings. Patients shouldn’t pay more for their medicine than PBMs and insurers. Instead, PBMs should share these savings on medicines directly with patients and help lower their out-of-pocket costs, the trade group said.