Pharmacy benefit managers restrict Idaho’s biopharmaceutical research and development | Opinion
Medical innovation has transformed health care and provided a lifeline to patients. Biopharmaceutical companies statewide are dedicated to strengthening treatments and fostering new cures. Thanks to the biopharmaceutical industry in Idaho and across the country, your loved ones can receive the treatments and medications they need to combat potentially life-threatening illnesses.
The industry’s achievements are possible through biopharmaceutical companies’ dedication to research and development. Without access to up-to-date technology, advanced laboratories or cutting-edge tools for clinical trials, these companies wouldn’t be able to produce the treatments that patients depend on. Any threat to R&D, then, necessarily jeopardizes patient health — you can’t separate one from the other.
And right now, Idaho’s bio industry, the innovation it produces, and the lives of countless Americans are on the line — all due to the business malfeasance of our nation’s health care middlemen.
Pharmacy benefit managers are the middlemen between drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and patients. They create and amend the formularies for insurers and bargain with manufacturers, supposedly to garner cheaper prescription drug prices. But instead of transferring these savings to the patients at the pharmacy counter, pharmacy benefit managers pocket the money for themselves. In fact, one recent study found that, for every dollar spent on brand-name medications, more than half was absorbed by health care payers, providers and middlemen — companies like pharmacy benefit managers.
Pharmacy benefit managers essentially function as a siphon, draining money out of the health care system to fill their own coffers with little to no required transparency or duty to act in the best interest of their customers. They are disrupting patients’ access to new medicines and breakthrough treatments. This is especially dangerous for people struggling with severe or chronic illnesses who depend on medical advancements to steer toward recovery.
As the CEO and founder of the Idaho Technology Council, I believe that investing in R&D means investing in patients’ futures. My team and I are committed to strengthening pharmaceutical innovation and access to new and effective products. To protect patients’ best interests, we must bring attention to pharmacy benefit managers’ harmful business practices. We can’t allow them to continue stripping the health care industry and the people it serves of the funds it needs to operate — because doing so only hurts patients. We encourage leaders like U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, to stand against this injustice and advocate for pharmacy benefit manager reform and greater transparency.
Luckily, current legislation in the U.S. Senate aims to hold pharmacy benefit managers accountable for the harm they cause. The Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023 seeks to curb the deceptive practices of pharmacy benefit managers by requiring the Federal Trade Commission to bring more transparency to pharmacy benefit manager drug pricing by monitoring the process, starting with the manufacturers and ending with patients receiving their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter.
This bill will provide patients with access to the novel medications and treatments they deserve. While this bill is an excellent start to putting an end to the work of these pharmacy benefit managers, we can’t stop there. Congress needs to take more action to end this patient harm once and for all.
The proper funding for R&D makes it possible to create new treatments, foster new cures and promote longer lives. On behalf of the Idaho patients relying on this innovation, biopharmaceutical companies require the proper resources to make this future healthcare access possible. We need our lawmakers to address the issue of pharmacy benefit managers, which limit the opportunity to enhance the lives of our patients.