- A Morning Consult article looks at states’ efforts to increase oversight and transparency around pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBMs) negotiations with drugmakers and pharmacies. This year, states have introduced more than 100 bills targeting PBMs, and in July, attorneys general from 33 states and Washington, D.C. filed an amicus brief in support of a North Dakota law that would impose state oversight and require PBMs to disclose some financial information. The flurry activity has been instigated by two developments: 1) a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that held Arkansas has the right to regulate PBMs within the state and 2) the three biggest PBMs processing roughly 77 percent of all U.S. prescription claims in 2020. (Brief here)
- The FDA blocked the sale of more 55,000 flavored e-cigarette products, its first ban of e-cigarette products since it began requiring makers to apply for premarket review last September. The FDA issued marketing denial orders for the electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products, saying they pose a public health threat to youth in the U.S. Of the products impacted by the decision, those not yet being sold may not be introduced into the market, and those already on the market must be removed or risk enforcement. (Article here)
August 27, 2021
Life Sciences