FMI Lauds Reintroduction of Legislation Requiring FTC to Review the Role of Prescription Drug Middlemen

Arlington, VA – On behalf of the 12,000 supermarket pharmacies operated by our member companies, FMI – The Food Industry Association is pleased to once again support the bipartisan Prescription Pricing for the People Act (S.1388).  Reintroduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), this important legislation would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to examine the effects of consolidation on pricing and other potentially anticompetitive behaviors within the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry, and provide policy recommendations to Congress to improve competition while protecting consumers and pharmacies. 

FMI Director, Food & Health Policy, Peter Matz, offered the following comments:

“Supermarket pharmacies play an important role in communities across the nation by providing a vast array of health care services, and the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination effort have further illustrated just how invaluable these pharmacies are.  Despite their essential role, however, supermarket pharmacies are struggling to stay in business due to the anticompetitive practices of PBMs.  The combination of increased fees, lowered reimbursement rates and lost access to patients due to PBM pharmacy steering is unsustainable for an industry that operates on extremely thin profit margins, generally between 1-2%. 

“Increased oversight and transparency are needed to control consumers’ costs and preserve their access to various market options for prescription medicines and other health services, including from supermarket pharmacies.  FMI thanks Sens. Grassley and Cantwell for their continued leadership and looks forward to working with them to advance this legislation.”