Express Scripts: PBMs' "put medicine within reach for payers and patients"

The listed price for brand-name drugs increased 11 percent last year, but the largest pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) in the U.S. said it shielded employers it works with from the bulk of that increase.
In a new Drug Trend Report released Feb. 6, Express Scripts said pharmaceutical costs for employers increased by just 2.5 percent for all prescription drugs.
"In a year where the issue of high drug prices was No. 1 on the list of payer and policy maker concerns, the data show that our solutions protected our clients and patients," Glen Stettin, chief innovation officer at Express Scripts, said in a news release. “By practicing pharmacy smarter, we uniquely make medicine more affordable and accessible for patients.”
Drug prices have been on the rise for years, Jennifer Luddy, senior manager of corporate communications for Express Scripts, said, adding that in 2015, drug prices increased by 16.2 percent.
“This has been a trend,” Luddy told American Pharmacy News. “Between 2008 and 2016, average list prices for a market basket of the most commonly used brand name drugs increased 208 percent.”
The base price for brand name drugs was set at $100 in January 2008. By December 2016, Luddy said, prices for the most commonly used brand medications spiked to $307.86 in 2008 dollars.
“I cannot speak to the drivers of brand drug price inflation,” she said. “However, as the data in our 2016 Drug Trend Report show, Express Scripts is the solution to keeping prescription medications affordable and accessible for employers and patients.”
PBMs like Express Scripts negotiate drug prices on behalf of health insurance companies and employers, but are often blamed for drug price increases by drug manufacturers who claim PBMs drive prices by offering rebates and discounts.
Luddy said the blame, however, is misplaced.
“Drug makers set the prices for their medications. They can lower those prices at any time,” she said. “Our job is to put medicine within reach for payers and patients. We still have more work to do to get costs lower for more patients and more payers, but as demonstrated in our report, we are doing our job effectively.”
One-third of employers who work with Express Scripts experienced a decline in their drug spending in 2016, Luddy said.
The rise in drug prices has sparked much debate from concerned consumers and launched federal investigations into the pricing practices of some drug manufacturers.
According to Bloomberg, following public outcry over the price of the EpiPen last August, the Federal Trade Commission recently launched an investigation into Mylan, the manufacturer of the EpiPen, the lifesaving treatment for people experiencing a severe allergic reaction.
Luddy said Express Scripts’ efforts to keep the pharmacy benefits affordable were successful, and for the second consecutive year, the portion patients pay for a prescription decreased.
In 2016, patient out-of-pocket cost share per prescription, including copay and deductible, was 14.6 percent compared with 14.8 percent in 2015, Luddy said.