Rx Research Corner: Drug Companies Continue to Set High Prescription Drug Launch Prices

High list prices on brand prescription drugs continue to be a challenge for payers and patients. PBMs applauded when certain drug companies brought down the prices of treatments of some chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes. But more needs to be done. Often, the initial launch price is the start of the problem when it comes to Americans facing difficulty affording their medications.

Watch the Research Shorts video below to learn more:

More than six decades ago, the battle against high drug prices began, and that fight is far from over. The first significant congressional investigation into high drug prices was Senate hearings led by Senator Estes Kefauver in 1959. Kefauver saw the need for reform in the way drug companies set prices for their lifesaving drugs, which, back then, could be seen as price gouging. Those hearings ended with a new legal standard for drug efficacy, but unfortunately, drug pricing did not make it into the final bill. Over 60 years later, drug companies are still doing the same song and dance, launching drugs with high prices and making access an issue for patients.

PBMs are Here to Help

When there's competition, PBMs can reduce drug costs by negotiating rebates from drug companies. Rebates help lower the actual or net price that employers, health plans, and patients pay for drugs. Even when there's no direct drug competition, PBMs still work so patients get the care they need.

PBMs are committed to improving drug access and affordability, but drug companies also need to do their part. PCMA recently launched a campaign to address patients' access and affordability issues by calling on drug companies to lower the list price of all drugs. Learn more about the campaign HERE and more about the value of PBMs HERE.

Big Pharma sets the price of the prescription drugs - and the price is the problem when it comes to Americans facing difficulty affording their prescription drugs.

Learn more.

###

PCMA is the national association representing America's pharmacy benefit companies. Pharmacy benefit companies are working every day to secure savings, enable better health outcomes, and support access to quality prescription drug coverage for more than 289 million patients.