A report published Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) hiked the costs of many important prescription drugs by over 1,000%.
The three largest PBMs — which are owned by CVS Health, Cigna, and UnitedHealth Group — generated over “$7.3 billion in revenue from dispensing drugs in excess of the drugs’ estimated acquisition costs from 2017-2022,” according to the FTC. The report found that more than one in five “specialty drugs” dispensed by pharmacies affiliated with PBMs were marked up by over 1,000%. Another 41% of drugs were marked up between 100-1,000%. The “Big 3” PBMs control between 60-80% of the prescriptions in the U.S.
“The FTC staff’s second interim report finds that the three major pharmacy benefit managers hiked costs for a wide range of lifesaving drugs, including medications to treat heart disease…
