Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

Senator James Lankford addressed the rising cost of prescription drug prices on the Senate Floor Wednesday.

Since January, the Finance Committee has held several hearings to better understand the complexity of drug pricing, including the steps a drug takes as it goes from research and development to the medicine.

The first of the multi-part series of hearings dealing with rising drug cost, Sen. Lankford focused on the 340B Drug Pricing Program’s increasing costs, the Medicaid rebate program, and restructuring the way drugs are priced to increase transparency. In March, during a Finance Committee hearing, Sen.   Lankford questioned the Health and Human Services Secretary on issues concerning the rising cost of prescription drugs and the Administration’s ongoing work to address the cost.

The third hearing on prescription drug prices was held in April. Sen. Lankford focused on the role and recent merger activity of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), as well as possible anticompetitive behavior during his questioning.

Sen. Lankford introduced The Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2019 with Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Finance Committee, and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA). He said the challenge now is what they should do with health care.

The bill would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to study the role and recent merger activity of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), as well as possible anticompetitive behavior.