JPMorgan says FTC report lacks ‘teeth to meaningfully change PBM landscape’

JPMorgan points out that the Federal Trade Commission released an interim staff report on the pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, industry. While the report presented the Commission’s position that PBM consolidation and vertical integration may have impacted competition and inflated drug costs, the interim findings fall short of any charges against the PBMs or empirical findings on the relationship between increased consolidation in the PBM industry and higher drug prices, says the analyst, who does not believe this report “has the teeth to meaningfully change the PBM landscape.” The firm continues to view legislation around PBMs as “likely manageable and potentially as a clearing event removing some overhang of uncertainty,” the analyst added.