Might 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Commerce Fee mentioned it had sought data from two privately held corporations that negotiate drug rebates on behalf of pharmacy profit managers (PBMs) as a part of its probe into how PBMs have an effect on pricing of pharmaceuticals.
The 2 corporations, Zinc Well being Providers and Ascent Well being Providers, are group buying organizations, that negotiate after-market reductions or rebates with drug producers on behalf of PBMs and maintain the contracts that govern these rebates.
Zinc Well being negotiates rebates for CVS Well being Corp (CVS.N) and Ascent Well being for Cigna Group’s (CI.N) Categorical Scripts unit and Prime Therapeutics, which is a privately held PBM, the FTC mentioned on Wednesday.
PBMs act as middlemen and negotiate rebates and charges with drug producers, create lists of medicines which are coated by insurance coverage, and reimburse pharmacies for sufferers’ prescriptions.
The inquiry goals to make clear unfair PBM practices, which embody directing sufferers in the direction of PBM-owned pharmacies, utilizing “sophisticated and opaque” reimbursement strategies, in addition to negotiating rebates and charges with drug producers which will impression the price of pharmaceuticals to payers and sufferers, the company mentioned.
The FTC final yr demanded data from the six largest PBMs in the USA, together with CVS’ Caremark, Humana Inc (HUM.N), Categorical Scripts and UnitedHealth Group Inc’s (UNH.N) OptumRx.
Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru
Enhancing by Vinay Dwivedi
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