WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Thom Tillis and his colleagues recently sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan urging the FTC to complete its investigation into pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). The bipartisan group of senators are also requesting a status update on the investigation, which has now been open for over 18 months. 

“We support the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) issuance of a Section 6(b) order and conducting a timely study of pharmacy benefits managers’ (PBM) business practices. You wrote on November 8, 2022, that the FTC’s inquiry was ‘a critical step in more closely scrutinizing business practices across the pharmaceutical supply chain that can raise drug prices, limit access for patients, and contribute to the shuttering of independent pharmacies across the country.’ With the FTC’s inquiry reaching its year-and-a-half mark, we urge the FTC to complete the study without delay,” the senators wrote. 

“There is widespread bipartisan support for examining PBM practices to determine whether they are causing Americans to pay higher prices for prescription drugs. This support is evident in legislation that has advanced through a number of Senate committees this Congress. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced S. 127, thePharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act, which would authorize the FTC to hold PBMs accountable for unfair or deceptive practices and add transparency to the PBM market,” the senators continued.

“With this bipartisan legislative action taking place, we urge the FTC to complete its 6(b) study in a timely manner. In the interim, we request that you publicly release a progress report on the status of your investigation. A commitment to a timely study and interim progress report will provide transparency, insight about possible competitive harms, and inform the responsiveness and cooperation of impacted parties,” the senators concluded. 

Read the full letter HERE.

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