II
Calendar No. 42
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 527
To require the Federal Trade Commission to study the role of intermediaries
in the pharmaceutical supply chain and provide Congress with appro-
priate policy recommendations, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY11, 2025
Mr. G
RASSLEY(for himself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. WELCH,
Mr. T
UBERVILLE, Mr. COONS, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. CAP-
ITO, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. BOOZMAN, and Mrs. BLACK-
BURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary
A
PRIL10, 2025
Reported by Mr. G
RASSLEY, without amendment A BILL
To require the Federal Trade Commission to study the role
of intermediaries in the pharmaceutical supply chain and
provide Congress with appropriate policy recommenda-
tions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prescription Pricing 2
for the People Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -6
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-7
gress’’ means— 8
(A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 9
Senate; and 10
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 11
House of Representatives. 12
(2) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 13
means the Federal Trade Commission. 14
SEC. 3. STUDY OF PHARMACEUTICAL SUPPLY CHAIN 15
INTERMEDIARIES AND MERGER ACTIVITY. 16
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 17
of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to 18
the appropriate committees of Congress a report that— 19
(1) addresses at minimum— 20
(A) whether pharmacy benefit managers— 21
(i) charge payers a higher price than 22
the reimbursement rate at which the phar-23
macy benefit managers reimburse phar-24
macies owned by the pharmacy benefit 25
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•S 527 RS
manager and pharmacies not owned by the 1
pharmacy benefit manager; 2
(ii) steer patients for competitive ad-3
vantage to any pharmacy, including a re-4
tail, mail-order, or any other type of phar-5
macy, in which the pharmacy benefit man-6
agers have an ownership interest; 7
(iii) audit or review proprietary data, 8
including acquisition costs, patient infor-9
mation, or dispensing information, of phar-10
macies not owned by the pharmacy benefit 11
manager and use such proprietary data to 12
increase revenue or market share for com-13
petitive advantage; or 14
(iv) use formulary designs to increase 15
the market share of higher cost prescrip-16
tion drugs or depress the market share of 17
lower cost prescription drugs (each net of 18
rebates and discounts); 19
(B) trends or observations on the state of 20
competition in the healthcare supply chain, par-21
ticularly with regard to intermediaries and their 22
integration with other intermediaries, suppliers, 23
or payers of prescription drug benefits; 24
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•S 527 RS
(C) how companies and payers assess the 1
benefits, costs, and risks of contracting with 2
intermediaries, including pharmacy services ad-3
ministrative organizations, and whether more 4
information about the roles of intermediaries 5
should be available to consumers and payers; 6
(D) whether there are any specific legal or 7
regulatory obstacles the Commission currently 8
faces in enforcing the antitrust and consumer 9
protection laws in the pharmaceutical supply 10
chain, including the pharmacy benefit manager 11
marketplace and pharmacy services administra-12
tive organizations; and 13
(E) whether there are any specific legal or 14
regulatory obstacles that contribute to the cost 15
of prescription drug prices; and 16
(2) provides— 17
(A) observations or conclusions drawn 18
from the November 2017 roundtable entitled 19
‘‘Understanding Competition in Prescription 20
Drug Markets: Entry and Supply Chain Dy-21
namics’’ and any similar efforts; 22
(B) specific actions the Commission in-23
tends to take as a result of the November 2017 24
roundtable, and any similar efforts, including a 25
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•S 527 RS
detailed description of relevant forthcoming ac-1
tions, additional research or roundtable discus-2
sions, consumer education efforts, or enforce-3
ment actions; and 4
(C) policy or legislative recommendations 5
to— 6
(i) improve transparency and competi-7
tion in the pharmaceutical supply chain; 8
(ii) prevent and deter anticompetitive 9
behavior in the pharmaceutical supply 10
chain; and 11
(iii) best ensure that consumers ben-12
efit from any cost savings or efficiencies 13
that may result from mergers and consoli-14
dations. 15
(b) I
NTERIMREPORT.—Not later than 180 days 16
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 17
shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 18
an interim report on the progress of the report required 19
by subsection (a), along with preliminary findings and 20
conclusions based on information collected to that date. 21
SEC. 4. REPORT. 22
The Commission shall submit to the appropriate com-23
mittees of Congress a report that includes— 24
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(1) the number and nature of complaints re-1
ceived by the Commission relating to an allegation 2
of anticompetitive conduct by a manufacturer of a 3
sole-source drug; 4
(2) the ability of the Commission to bring an 5
enforcement action against a manufacturer of a sole- 6
source drug; and 7
(3) policy or legislative recommendations to 8
strengthen enforcement actions relating to anti-9
competitive behavior. 10
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42
119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 527 A BILL
To require the Federal Trade Commission to study
the role of intermediaries in the pharmaceutical
supply chain and provide Congress with appro-
priate policy recommendations, and for other
purposes.
A
PRIL
10, 2025
Reported without amendment
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