Good Day BIO: PBMs ‘part of a broken drug supply chain’

Ending the week with a recap of yesterday’s Senate subcommittee hearing on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and California’s renewable energy milestone. (606 words, 3 minutes, 1 second)

PBMs ‘part of a broken drug supply chain’

This was the key theme of yesterday’s hearing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Three Senators participated: Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). 

The main themes: Dialogue focused on plan sponsors and PBMs, including the broken rebate system, with some acknowledgement that drug manufacturers aren’t solely responsible for high drug prices. There were nods to eliminate rebates entirely, and/or improve rebate transparency, as well as support for the Prescription Pricing for the People Act (S. 1388), sponsored by the three participating Senators. 

Read: What are PBMs, anyway?

PBMs are “part of a broken drug supply chain,” said Sen. Blumenthal, noting his priority is lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Sen. Blackburn criticized the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for delaying the final policy on pharmacy price concessions at the point of sale to January 1, 2024, saying it gives PBMs “another year to play games.”

Re: community health centers and 340B health programs, PBMs are “inappropriately siphoning off these discounts and pocketing them,” said Sen. Blumenthal. “I have heard that PBMs are not allowing the discounted savings to go to the community health centers and the patients they serve.”

There was widespread agreement on the need for Congress to study this issue, as well as study the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) authority over the issue and role in addressing antitrust behavior, and ultimately empower FTC to enforce penalties. 

BIO’s take: There’s “increasing complexity in both the number of supply chain intermediaries and relationships between those entities have created a shadow market that ultimately harms…patients,” said BIO in comments submitted yesterday to the FTC. Consolidation in the PBM market limits patient access to needed medicines and increases costs to consumers and taxpayers.

More Health Care News:

Bio.News: FDA draft guidance on non-opioid analgesics called ‘inadequate’
“Unfortunately, after years of dragging their feet, the FDA’s guidelines feel like too little, too late, according to Camelia Thompson, Senior Director of Science & Regulatory Affairs at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).”

We can reach 100% renewable energy – powered by biotech

“Renewable energy met just shy of 100% of California’s demand for the first time on Saturday,” reported USA Today—a testament to what we can achieve if we incentivize and support biotech innovation.

The news: “At 2:50 (p.m.), we reached 99.87% of load served by all renewables, which broke the previous record,” said Anna Gonzales of the California Independent System Operator, which oversees California’s bulk electric power system and transmission lines.

Solar provided two-thirds of the energy—which is cool (or hot?), but we need other kinds of renewables, too, if we want to continue to reach this goal in California and nationwide.

We can’t forget biofuels—which can battle both greenhouse gas emissions as well as surging gas prices, as BIO recently wrote in a letter to the Biden administration.

Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, should play a big role. SAF is a critical driver of decarbonization, reducing lifecycle emissions of the industry by as much as 80%—but we need policies like tax credits to incentivize its production and use. President Biden has called for net-zero aviation by 2050.


More Agriculture & Environment News:

NPR: World Food Prize goes to former farmer who answers climate change question: 'So what?'
For scientist – and former farmer – Cynthia Rosenzweig, her work on climate change has always revolved around one big question: "So what?" "Impacts of climate change are crucially important," she says. "If the climate changes and nothing happened, why would we care?"

President Biden’s Friday: Traveling to Kentucky to meet with manufacturing leaders and discussing innovation and America’s competitiveness at 3:45 PM ET.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: ICYMI, yesterday the Senate confirmed John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC, to lead the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) (H/T POLITICO Pulse).