Members of Congress, PCMA, and Others Respond to FTC PBM Interim Report

On July 9, the FTC released an interim staff report in connection with its 6(b) study of the PBM industry. In a dissenting statement released with the report, Commissioner Holyoak calls the report “premature and deficient,” saying that FTC Chair Lisa Khan “cobbles together structural observations that in her apparent view dispenses with the need to conduct comprehensive and empirical analysis of the PBM market.” Commissioner Ferguson, in a separate statement, called the report “especially unusual” saying, “It relies, throughout, in large part on public information that was not collected from the PBMs or their affiliates during the 6(b) process.”

The publication elicited strong reactions questioning the validity of the report and encouraging people to read Holyoak’s dissent. In a statement, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) said the “interim FTC report falls far short of being a definitive, fact-based assessment of PBMs or the prescription drug market…The FTC has a history as an objective agency that relies on data and evidence, but they have failed to live up to that history today.” Former Sen. Pat Toomey posted on X, “The Biden FTC has once again proven itself focused on maligning market forces in our economy, rather than the facts or the wellbeing of consumers.” Former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo said, “President Biden’s FTC Commissioners published a biased and deeply flawed report on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).” Geoffrey Manne, President and Founder of International Center for Law & Economics, called Commissioner Holyoak’s dissent “an absolute tour de force…Holyoak stresses that the report isn’t up to any recognized standard of quality. It is a piece of advocacy, devoid of empirics and built entirely around an unsupported assertion that increased concentration is harmful.”