R.I.P. Rebate Rule: Centerpiece Plucked From Trump's Drug Pricing Blueprint
An ambitious proposal that threatened to kill the rebates pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) negotiate with drug manufacturers has instead been left for dead.
President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the rebate rule after a thorough review, a White House spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets Thursday morning. While the PBM lobby panned the proposal as "poorly conceived," some patient advocacy groups praised the idea, which was a major piece of the administration's drug pricing blueprint released last year.
"We're very much eliminating the middlemen," Trump said from the White House lawn, with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar by his side, when the blueprint was unveiled.
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The administration's reversal is likely to be welcomed by major PBMs, which include Cigna's Express Scripts, CVS Health's Caremark, and UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx—which saw their stock prices rise Thursday morning.