Thirty States Have Rejected Similar Proposals Since 2003

(Washington, DC)—The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) issued the following statement in response to a ruling today by US District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina upholding Title II of the DC AccessRx Act:

“Regrettably, in deciding today to uphold Title II of DC’s AccessRx Act of 2004, the US District Court of the District of Columbia declined to conduct a substantive review of the merits of the case and simply accepted the First Circuit’s holding in PCMA v. Rowe.

“PCMA plans an immediate appeal to the District of Columbia’s US Circuit Court of Appeals. This appeal will afford an opportunity by the Court of Appeals for an independent review of this case on the merits.

“Since 2003, 30 states have rejected imposing similar fiduciary-disclosure requirements on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) because they know these proposals empower drugmakers to charge consumers and employers higher drug prices. For these reasons, over the past four years, a broad coalition of consumers, Fortune 500 employers, labor unions, health insurers, and others have worked together to defeat these proposals at the state level. Numerous, independent data from the Congressional Budget Office, the Federal Trade Commission, and others have concluded that public disclosure of drug-pricing information alone could increase prescription-drug costs by about 10 percent.

“As this process continues, PCMA will continue to work with consumer and employer allies to make policymakers fully aware of the harmful consequences associated with PBM fiduciary-disclosure proposals.”

###

PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which lower the cost of prescription drugs for more than 200 million Americans with coverage provided through Fortune 500 employers, health insurers, labor unions, and Medicare Part D

Contact Information:
Phil Blando, 202-207-3614
Charles Coté 202-207-3605