The Hottest Health And Life Sciences Policy In 2023's 2nd Half

The Hottest Health And Life Sciences Policy In 2023's 2nd Half

August 1, 2023, Law360

Rujul Desai's commentary was included in a Law360 piece about the hottest health and life sciences policy in the second half of 2023. Rujul specifically addressed pharmacy benefit managers —which Law360 defines as "so-called middlemen that administer prescription drug coverage, wielding considerable power over prices, access and reimbursement at the pharmacy counter."

"For the first time in the decades, the largest vertically integrated PBMs ... are undergoing bipartisan scrutiny," Rujul told Law360. According to Rujul, that scrutiny stems from "the vast market power" of PBMs as well as "a growing realization of the level of self-dealing activity their multisided business model allows them to engage in, which results in higher health costs to their employer clients as well as patients and government."

Rujul predicts that "PBMs have and will continue to mount aggressive advocacy efforts to prevent or blunt the impact of these proposed reforms and, therefore, we are unlikely to see sweeping change overnight. But the bipartisan nature of the reform interest makes it likely some level [of] new obligations on platform PBMs will be implemented."

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