For Immediate Release: February 17, 2022

Press Contact: [email protected]

WAR ROOM: FTC Commissioners Wilson and Phillips Side with Big Pharma, Vote to Protect Prescription Drug Middlemen

WASHINGTON, DC - The Fight Corporate Monopolies War Room today released the following statement after FTC Commissioners Christine Wilson and Noah Phillips obstructed the commission from studying the role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ (PBMs) in increasing prescription drug prices.

“Make no mistake, by voting against investigating these prescription drug middlemen, FTC Commissioners Christine Wilson and Noah Phillips are siding with Big Pharma over working families facing skyrocketing prescription prices and local pharmacies,” said Fight Corporate Monopolies Executive Director Helen Brosnan. “As Chair Khan said in today’s meeting, this vote had true life and death stakes for countless Americans. The FTC has a moral obligation to address this crisis and Commissioners Wilson and Phillips should be ashamed of bucking bipartisan consensus – including today’s testimony by Republican members of Congress and the bipartisan Grassley-Cantwell Prescription Pricing for the People Act – to protect a business model cloaked in secrecy.”

The vote to protect Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ (PBMs) took place at the FTC’s open commission meeting today, where pharmacists and Americans on prescription drugs gave impassioned pleas in support of the study for over an hour. In addition, Republican members of Congress Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA), a pharmacist, and Rep. John Rose (R-TN) testified in support of the study.

With their “No” votes, Commissioners’ Wilson and Phillips sided against a bipartisan coalition pushing for enhanced scrutiny of these prescription drug middlemen. U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA)’s Prescription Pricing for the People Act would require the FTC to study the role and potential anticompetitive behavior of PBMs.

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Fight Corporate Monopolies is a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit that is building a movement to address today’s crisis of concentrated economic power. We do not accept any funding from corporations. For more information on Fight Corporate Monopolies, visit fightcorporatemonopolies.org.