PCMA, PhRMA Broke Lobbying Spending Records (Again) in 2024

Jun 12
Jun 12, 2025

Last year, the main trade groups representing PBMs and drug manufacturers both broke records for money spent on lobbying. Industry experts say that isn’t unexpected, since policymakers’ ongoing focus on lowering prescription drug prices has put pressure on multiple players in the supply chain. But only PBMs, so far, have been able to keep federal reform measures at bay.

“There’s a lot going on, so it doesn’t surprise me at all that they’re spending a lot on lobbying,” says Matthew Fiedler, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Center on Health Policy. Not only is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) still being implemented, but “we’re in the midst of the ongoing debate on PBM reform on the Hill,” which affects both PBMs and pharmaceutical companies, Fiedler tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT.
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Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.