PBMS Blamed for High Drug Prices in Senate HELP Committee Hearing

When questioned by senators in a hearing Thursday about why Americans pay exponentially more for many brand name drugs than residents of other countries, pharmaceutical company CEOs repeatedly pointed to rebates they must offer to pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) as the real problem, an allegation the committee soundly rejected.

Said Merck CEO Robert Davis about PBMs at the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, “As more power and control has been concentrated into the ever-smaller number of vertically consolidated players, their negotiating strength has increased dramatically… Merck continues to experience increasing pressure to provide even larger discounts.”

But others at the hearing said that familiar drumbeat — it’s the PBMs’ fault — doesn’t hold water when one considers the numbers. Pharmaceutical companies currently make $323 billion a year in revenue while PBMs make $23 billion, said Peter Maybarduk, director of the Access to Medicines program at Public Citizen.

Americans spend twice as much per capita ($13,000 per every man, women and child) on prescription drugs compared to residents of any other country, said Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who led the hearing.

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