NCPA AARP PBM report 08 25

To: HEALTH, AND NATIONAL EDITORS

Contact: Kevin Schweers, kevin.schweers@ncpanet.org; or John Norton, john.norton@ncpanet.org, +1-703-683-8200, both of NCPA

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to a new

AARP report, the average retail price of the most popular brand-name

drugs increased by 8.3 percent in 2009 and by 41.5 percent over the

past five years - rates well in excess of inflation as measured by the

Consumer Price Index.  At the same time, major pharmacy benefit

managers (PBMs) like CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, Inc. and Medco

Health Solutions, Inc., hired by employers and other health plan

sponsors to negotiate lower prices from drug manufacturers,

experienced record profits, in some cases increasing five-fold over

the past decade.

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Joseph H. Harmison, PD, President of the National Community

Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and Arlington, Texas pharmacy owner,

issued the following statement in response to the AARP report, first

covered by The New York Times:

"This report should serve as a wake-up call to both patients and

health plan sponsors relying on major pharmacy benefit managers to

administer their drug benefits. Community pharmacists regularly work

with patients to stretch their health care dollars, such as by

promoting the use of cost-saving generic drugs. And local pharmacists

know all too well the frustration patients have with drug costs set by

factors well outside the pharmacist's control, such as brand name

manufacturers and PBMs.

"In recent decades, PBMs have grown from simple claims administrators

into unregulated, billion-dollar middlemen whose profit motivations

routinely conflict with clients' interests. AARP's analysis calls into

serious question what patients and health plans are getting in return

for billions of dollars spent on pharmacy benefit management.

"Drug manufacturers pay PBMs billions of dollars each year to drive

brand market share, resulting in enormous PBM profits, with the

remainder passed on to health plans. These rebates have become

predictable costs, simply budgeted into the overall, rising cost of

brand name drugs. The pursuit of more rebate revenue has been known to

lead PBMs to switch patients from generic drugs to pricier name

brands. In addition, among the drugs experiencing the greatest price

inflation are so-called specialty drugs that PBMs often require to be

dispensed solely through their own mail order pharmacies.

"AARP's findings, combined with windfall PBM profits, make it clear

why PBMs so strongly resist greater transparency requirements, such as

assuming a fiduciary duty to put clients' interests above their own.

"Congressmen Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) are the lead

sponsors of H.R. 5234, the PBM Audit Reform and Transparency Act of

2010, which tackles some of the most egregious practices of the PBM

industry and should be passed. PBMs do not have a truly vested

interest in reining in prescription drug prices, because that would

hurt their profits. The Weiner-Moran bill will ensure that finally

happens."  

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA@) represents

America's community pharmacists, including the owners of more than

22,700 independent community pharmacies, pharmacy franchises, and

chains. Together they represent an $88 billion health-care

marketplace, employ over 65,000 pharmacists, and dispense over 40% of

all retail prescriptions. To learn more go to http://www.ncpanet.org or read

NCPA's blog, The Dose, at http://ncpanet.wordpress.com.

SOURCE National Community Pharmacists Association

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