PBM cuts insulin co-pay as lawmaker confrontations loom

Express Scripts has announced a plan to cut patient co-pays for insulin products at $25 a month ahead of a pricing showdown with US politicians next week. The cap is part of a “patient assurance programme” that the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) is launching for members of participating non-government funded pharmacy plans managed by Express Scripts, according to its parent company Cigna. Cigna is one of a group of PBMs that are scheduled to come up against the influential Senate Committee on Finance in a hearing on 9 April that will focus on drug pricing – and claims that PBMs are pocketing medicine discounts instead of passing them on to patients. Cigna vice president Steve Miller and top executives from other PBMs – including CVS Health,  Humana, OptumRx and Prime Therapeutics – will be grilled by senators led by Chuck Grassley (Republican) and Ron Wyden (Democrat) in the third such hearing, which comes after the committee heard testimony from top pharma manufacturers and patient representative groups.