In its latest “Drug Trend Report” ,Express Scripts Holding Co, the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the United States, highlighted that prescription drug spending for its members slowed to less than 4 percent in 2016.
The PBM company has also underlined how in a year where the high cost of prescription medications dominated headlines, it delivered value beyond and practiced pharmacy smarter, driving down costs and improving outcomes, as 33.0% of employers with a pharmacy plan managed by Express Scripts spent less per person on prescription drugs in 2016 compared to 2015.
In the report it is also said that brand-name list prices increased about 10,7% in 2016.
Drug prices have been also recently described by President Trump as “astronimical” and urged pharmaceutical executive to manufacture more of their drugs in the United States and cut prices.
In a recent interview with CBS news Express Scripts CEO Tim Wentworth had to defend the role of PBM companies in general (and the one of Express Scripts) from the accusation to contribute to raise the drug prices.
“Pharma companies determine their prices and pharma companies determine whether or not they want to discount their price at a cost level through rebates or if they want to lower to a list price that is discounted,” Wentworth said.
As reported by CBS news, Wentworth was also asked if he would be willing to be more transparent about how much Express Scripts makes from rebates.
“We support absolute transparency with our clients,” he said, and explained that Express Scripts’ clients can use its online digital tools to see balances in their high-deductible plans, drug prices, the lowest-cost retail pharmacies to purchase them, and more.
