For the past two years, attempts by the Georgia General Assembly to regulate drug pricing middlemen have faced strong headwinds and powerful lobbying opposition. But that isn’t stopping legislators and activists from planning yet another push next year.
With a hope to curb soaring drug prices, some legislators are targeting pharmacy benefit managers, an industry that controls the transfer of drugs from the manufacturers to the insurers. For two years in a row, the House has passed a bill to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, only to see it stall in the Senate.
These little-known companies purchase drugs from the manufacturers and place them on lists that become the medicines covered by a prescription drug plan or hospital. In exchange for better placement on these coveted lists, manufacturers offer the drugs to pharmacy benefit managers at a discount or a rebate.
