This week, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) visited Del-Kar Drugs in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. During the event, he highlighted the findings of a recent Federal Trade Commission interim staff report criticizing pharmacy benefit managers' extreme price hikes on specialty generic drugs. Krishnamoorthi has introduced several pieces of legislation in Congress on PBM reform.
"The main benefits pharmacy benefit managers bring to the table are for themselves and their bottom lines, not patients or the local and independent pharmacies that millions of Americans depend on to fill their prescriptions," he said.
"This FTC report clearly shows that by jacking up prescription drug costs and unfairly favoring their own pharmacies over small, local, patient-trusted institutions like Del-Kar Drugs, PBMs are raking in enormous profits at the expense of patients and small businesses. While Illinoisans struggle to keep up with the cost of medication and neighborhood pharmacies continue to be wiped out across Illinois, PBMs are making record profits off drugs used to treat cancer. The time for PBM reform is long overdue, and Congress should use this report to finally enact change that puts patients first," Krishnamoorthi said.
Also at the event were NCPA member and Illinois Pharmacists Association President Dave Bagot, PBM patient advocate Heather Anderson, and Del-Kar owner and pharmacist Edwin Muldrow.
