Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tina Smith, D-Minn., are ordering pharmacy benefit managers and drug distributors to respond to HHS Secretary Alex Azar's charges that they are hindering attempts to cut drug prices, according to The Hill.
Drug manufacturers have been told by pharmacy benefit managers that if they lower prices their drugs could be removed from insurance formularies, Mr. Azar said.
"These are extremely disturbing allegations by Secretary Azar. If they are true, these allegations suggest that PBMs and drug distributors are acting to maintain high list prices in order to maintain high profit margins, potentially raising antitrust concerns," the senators wrote. "In addition, if PBMs were acting to keep drug prices high, it would directly contradict the public statements that PBMs have made about their actions and their interest in securing lower list prices from drug companies."
The senators sent letters to executives at CardinalHealth, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Medimpact Healthcare Systems, OptumRx, Prime Theraputics, Humana, CVS Health and ExpressScripts. They demanded the companies respond to Mr. Azar's allegations by July 13.