Senate committee passes bill squeezing PBMs, attacking anticompetitive drug company practices

The Lower Health Care Costs Act (S. 1895), a bipartisan drug pricing bill, took a big step toward enactment Wednesday as the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed it in a 17-3 vote. The bill is likely to be passed by the Senate, and could be endorsed by the House.

The HELP Committee voted to add a bill making companies justify price increases with extensive disclosures about development and marketing costs (see “HELP Committee Advances Transparency Bill”). ...