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Several of the biggest US pharmacy benefit managers have generated more than $7.3bn in revenue by charging “enormous mark-ups” for drugs treating cancer and HIV, according to the US Federal Trade Commission.
A report published by the competition regulator on Tuesday named CVS Health’s Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, which administer about 80 per cent of all prescriptions in the US.
The antitrust regulator found the pharmacy benefit managers marked up “numerous” speciality generic drugs distributed at their groups’ own pharmacies by thousands of per cent.
The companies “hiked costs for a wide range of life-saving drugs, including medications to treat heart disease and cancer”, FTC chair Lina Khan said.
The “problem is growing at an alarming rate, which means there is an urgent need for policymakers to address it”, said Hannah Garden-Monheit, director of the FTC’s office of policy planning.
The three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This is a developing story.
Additional reporting by Oliver Barnes
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