[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1227 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1227

     To require the Federal Trade Commission to study the role of 
intermediaries in the pharmaceutical supply chain and provide Congress 
    with appropriate policy recommendations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 29, 2019

 Mr. Grassley (for himself, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Daines, Mr. Blumenthal, 
 Mr. Lankford, and Ms. Ernst) introduced the following bill; which was 
       read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To require the Federal Trade Commission to study the role of 
intermediaries in the pharmaceutical supply chain and provide Congress 
    with appropriate policy recommendations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prescription Pricing for the People 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate; 
                and
                    (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Trade Commission.

SEC. 3. STUDY OF PHARMACEUTICAL SUPPLY CHAIN INTERMEDIARIES AND MERGER 
              ACTIVITY.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Commission shall submit to the appropriate committees of 
Congress a report that--
            (1) addresses at minimum--
                    (A) whether pharmacy benefit managers--
                            (i) charge payers (including Medicare and 
                        Medicaid) a higher price than the reimbursement 
                        rate at which the pharmacy benefit managers 
                        reimburses competing pharmacies while 
                        reimbursing pharmacies in which the pharmacy 
                        benefit managers have an ownership interest at 
                        the rate charged to payers;
                            (ii) steer patients to pharmacies in which 
                        the pharmacy benefit managers have an ownership 
                        interest;
                            (iii) audit or review proprietary data, 
                        including acquisition costs, patient 
                        information, or dispensing information, of 
                        competing pharmacies that can be used for 
                        anticompetitive purposes; or
                            (iv) use formulary designs to depress the 
                        market share of low-cost, lower-rebate 
                        prescription drugs;
                    (B) the current state of competition in the 
                pharmaceutical supply chain, particularly with regard 
                to intermediaries and the recent vertical integrations 
                of pharmacy benefit managers with insurance companies 
                or other payers of prescription drug benefits;
                    (C) how companies and payers assess the benefits, 
                costs, and risks of contracting with intermediaries, 
                including pharmacy services administrative 
                organizations, and whether more information about the 
                roles of intermediaries should be available to 
                consumers and payers; and
                    (D) whether there are any specific legal or 
                regulatory obstacles the Commission currently faces in 
                ensuring a competitive and transparent marketplace in 
                the pharmaceutical supply chain, including the pharmacy 
                benefit manager marketplace and pharmacy services 
                administrative organizations; and
            (2) provides--
                    (A) observations or conclusions drawn from the 
                November 2017 roundtable entitled ``Understanding 
                Competition in Prescription Drug Markets: Entry and 
                Supply Chain Dynamics'', and any similar efforts;
                    (B) specific actions the Commission intends to take 
                as a result of the November 2017 roundtable, and any 
                similar efforts, including a detailed description of 
                relevant forthcoming actions, additional research or 
                roundtable discussions, consumer education efforts, or 
                enforcement actions; and
                    (C) policy or legislative recommendations to--
                            (i) improve transparency and competition in 
                        the pharmaceutical supply chain;
                            (ii) prevent and deter anticompetitive 
                        behavior in the pharmaceutical supply chain; 
                        and
                            (iii) best ensure that consumers benefit 
                        from any cost savings or efficiencies that may 
                        result from mergers and consolidations.
    (b) Interim Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to the appropriate 
committees of Congress an interim report on the progress of the report 
required by subsection (a), along with preliminary findings and 
conclusions based on information collected to that date.
                                 <all>