Radar on Drug Benefits

Researchers from the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics are pushing for more transparency in the pharmaceutical supply chain and policy changes in the generic drug sector. Their recommendations, published in a white paper on May 31, were based on their findings that PBMs and health insurers cost patients, employers and the federal government billions of dollars per year in the generic drug market.

Karen Van Nuys, Ph.D., one of the paper’s authors and executive director of the Center’s Value of Life Sciences Innovation Project, tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that she recommends changes in the way pharmacies set their cash prices as well as in some formularies that favor branded drugs over generics and so-called spread pricing, where PBMs reimburse pharmacies one price, charge health plans a higher price and pocket the difference.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Tuesday that it will investigate the business practices and consolidation of PBMs, following months of pressure from health care stakeholders. The FTC’s investigation, which is just the latest escalation in a nationwide regulatory push to clamp down on PBMs’ most controversial methods, was praised by plan sponsors and pharmaceutical groups.

The FTC’s leadership, a panel of five commissioners, voted unanimously to launch the investigation under section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The commissioners are a mix of two Democrats and two Republicans, with the fifth seat filled by the party that holds the White House. The unanimous vote is a reversal for the two Republican panelists appointed by former President Donald Trump. The Republican commissioners voted against a similar inquiry in February, deadlocking with the two Democratic commissioners — the swing seat on the panel was unfilled at the time. That fifth commissioner, Democrat Alvaro Martin Bedoya, was confirmed by the Senate in May on a party-line vote.

Now that many large employers have finalized employee health benefits for 2023, some clear trends are emerging, pharmacy benefit consultants tell AIS Health. Among them: many plan sponsors have traditional drug benefits on auto-pilot but are hyper-focused on high-cost specialty drugs.

For non-specialty drugs, the cost trend is pretty flat, says Paul Burns, a pharmacy practice leader at the HR consulting firm Buck. “There’s been some increases over the pandemic, but it’s not wildly spiking — and that’s where 98% of the utilization is.”

So far, the FDA has approved eight cell and gene therapies, but the agency is expected to approve several more medications in those classes in the next few years. That has caused concern for payers because such medications have high costs and limited clinical evidence, according to speakers who participated in an Avalere Health webinar on May 25.

As such, the federal government, PBMs, health insurers and other payers are testing innovative ways to reimburse hospitals, providers and pharmaceutical companies for administering cell and gene therapies.