The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) released a statement in support of the Food and Drug Commissioner’s call to publish a list of off-patent drugs that may be vulnerable to price-fixing.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb reviewed the ways the FDA can intervene when pharmaceutical manufacturers block competition from generic medications. The agency will determine ways it can stop brand-name medication makers from using risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS) from blocking generic forms of the medication.
Generic medications provide a lower cost alternative to consumers who may not be able to afford life-saving brand name medications.
“As the [President Donald] Trump administration seeks to combat high drug costs, we applaud FDA Commissioner Gottlieb’s decision to publish a ‘watch list’ of off-patent drugs. This move, which PCMA and others have long advocated, will help deter manufacturers from buying the rights to drugs like Daraprim for the explicit purpose of raising their price,” PCMA President and CEO Mark Merritt said in a statement released by the association.
The PCMA represents pharmacy benefit managers, the people who administer prescription drug plans for the more than 266 million Americans who have health insurance from a number of providers, among them are Medicare and Medicaid plans, as well as the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and union plans.
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