Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
PBM's Influence On Drug Prices May Be In FTC Spotlight
Axios: FTC May Probe Pharmacy Benefit Managers
The Federal Trade Commission will vote Thursday on whether it will study how pharmacy benefit managers affect drug prices and the businesses of pharmacies. PBMs are powerful, secretive and heavily consolidated, and it appears the FTC is open to scrutinizing the industry that got significantly more concentrated under the FTC's own watch. The FTC did not respond to requests for more information about what the study could include. But one of the FTC's targets likely will be fees PBMs claw back from pharmacies — fees the federal government is also targeting in a new proposed regulation. (Herman, 2/14)
Stat: FTC Will Vote On Whether To Examine How PBM Practices
In a move hailed by pharmacies, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission plans to vote later this month on whether to examine pharmacy benefits managers and how their controversial practices affect independent and specialty pharmacy operations. The agency disclosed the planned Feb. 17 vote in a brief notice that specified interest in the “competitive impact of contractual provisions and reimbursement adjustments, and other practices affecting drug prices,” but did not provide any further detail. An FTC spokesperson wrote us that additional information will not be released until the upcoming meeting. (Silverman, 2/11)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Washington Post: Formaldehyde Exposure Increases By 17 Percent The Risk Of Memory, Thinking Woes
Health-care workers and others who are exposed on the job to formaldehyde, even in low amounts, face a 17 percent increased likelihood of developing memory and thinking problems later on, according to research published in the journal Neurology. The finding adds cognitive impairment to already established health risks associated with formaldehyde. (Searing, 2/13)
