PCMA on New GAO Report: Shows Urgent Need for Biogenerics Legislation

WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
ThePharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) released the following
statement today on a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the
Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and enrollee cost sharing for
selected specialty prescription drugs:

"The high prices of biotech drugs in the new GAO report underscore the
importance of creating much-needed competition to lower costs and increase
access for these life-saving products.

"Despite these high prices, payers have worked hard to provide affordable
benefits. In the FEHBP program, the GAO report finds that nearly 9 out of 10
federal employees are in plans that limit out-of-pocket costs to about $55 per
prescription, even for biotech medicines where annual treatment costs can exceed
$25,000.

"Many of the high-cost biotech medicines examined by GAO do not face generic
competition, straining public and private payers` ability to provide affordable
drug benefits for these necessary and often life-changing products. Generic
competition lowers costs because it gives patients the power to choose and gives
manufacturers an incentive to reduce prices.

"Meaningful biogenerics legislation should be the first stop for policymakers
tasked with financing health reform. PCMA and a broad coalition of consumers,
employers, labor unions, and others support bipartisan legislation which would
create a regulatory pathway for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to
approve generic versions of biologic products."

PCMA represents the nation`s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which improve
affordability and quality of care through the use of electronic prescribing
(e-prescribing), generic alternatives, mail-service pharmacies, and other
innovative tools for 200-plus million Americans.

PCMA
Charles Coté, 202-207-3605

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