A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to vote in favor of releasing an interim staff report on pharmacy benefit managers (PBM).

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), along with Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) and Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), wrote to the FTC in light of an upcoming Jan. 14 open commission meeting to consider issuing a second interim staff report on PBMs.

"PBMs were originally created to handle the prescription drug benefit on behalf of health plans, negotiating directly with drug manufacturers and setting pharmacy networks for their contracted payers," the lawmakers wrote.

"But over the years, these once little-known middlemen have morphed into giant, vertically-integrated conglomerates that........

© The Hill