Cantwell, Grassley Continue Fight Against Skyrocketing Drug Costs

Press Release

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), senior member of the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees, continued to press for transparency and fairness in the prescription drug market, partnering again on legislation to hold pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) accountable for opaque and often deceptive practices that contribute to high drug prices for consumers. Sen. Cantwell successfully advanced the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act through the Commerce Committee in June and vowed to keep fighting until it becomes law.

"For too long, Americans have been left in the dark while PBMs -- the mysterious middlemen -- manipulate prescription drug prices. We need to hold PBMs accountable for skyrocketing drug costs. With these bipartisan bills, I'm continuing to fight for accountability and transparency in the drug market so we can shine a light on unfair practices and make sure patients get a fair deal on the medications they need," Sen. Cantwell said.

"Year after year, the price of prescription drugs has skyrocketed, far outpacing inflation and leaving patients and taxpayers footing the increasingly outrageous bill. I've worked to battle price increases on many fronts, but we can't truly restore sanity to drug prices without addressing pharmacy benefit managers. PBMs, the industry middlemen, operate in the shadows and drive up prices for consumers. These bills bring about greater transparency to their industry and prevent unfair or anticompetitive practices that harm consumers," Sen. Grassley said.

Sen. Cantwell successfully shepherded the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act (S. 127) through the Commerce Committee with bipartisan support in June 2022 after chairing a hearing to bring attention to manipulative drug pricing practices of PBMs that drive up the costs of medication at the expense of consumers and drive neighborhood pharmacies out of business.

While PBMs were initially formed to process claims and negotiate lower drug prices with drug makers, today they administer prescription drug plans for hundreds of millions of Americans and three PBMs control nearly 80 percent of the prescription drug market. They serve as middlemen, managing every aspect of the prescription drug benefits process for health insurance companies, self-insured employers, unions and government programs. They operate out of the view of regulators and consumers -- setting prescription costs, deciding what drugs are covered by insurance plans and how they are dispensed -- pocketing unknown sums that might otherwise be passed along as savings to consumers and undercutting local independent pharmacies. This lack of transparency makes it impossible to fully understand if and how PBMs might be manipulating the prescription drug market to increase profits and drive-up drug costs for consumers.

Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act (S. 127)

Sponsored by Sen. Cantwell and co-led by Sen. Grassley, the bill bans deceptive unfair pricing schemes, prohibits arbitrary claw backs of payments made to pharmacies and requires PBMs to report to the FTC how much money they make through spread pricing and pharmacy fees. It is also cosponsored by Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R, Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.) Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R.-W.Va.).

Prescription Pricing for the People Act (S. 113)

Sponsored by Sen. Grassley and co-led by Sen. Cantwell, the bill requires the Federal Trade commission (FTC) to examine the effects of consolidation in the PBM industry on pricing, as well as other potentially abusive behavior by PBMs. The bill instructs the FTC to provide policy recommendations to Congress to improve competition and protect consumers. While the FTC has initiated a 6(b) study into PBM business practices, it is important they conduct a thorough and timely study of the pharmaceutical supply chain. The bill is also cosponsored Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.).

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