Physicians Ask Senate Finance to Address Kickbacks, Other Factors Driving Up Drug Costs.

• Position: [IN THE NEWS]

* Citing unaffordable costs of common, essential drugs such as insulin, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) provided testimony for the Jan 29 Senate Finance Committee hearing on high drug prices.

The answer is not a government-run pharmaceutical industry, but rather unleashing the "competitive market forces that provide abundant options and push prices down in almost every other sector of the American economy."

Specific solutions recommended by AAPS include:

* End the safe harbor to the Medicare Anti-Kickback Statute. A safe harbor created for Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), which was supposed to lower prices, was extended to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). Diabetes patients are one group particularly hard hit by the collusion between these middlemen and manufacturers. For example, lower cost generic insulin drugs are excluded from plan formularies, when brand name manufacturers agree to pay larger "rebates" to PBMs.

* Address anti-competitive manufacturer tactics that delay introduction of generics. The FDA under the leadership of Scott Gottlieb, M.D., has made welcome progress in increasing the number of lower cost generic drugs available to American patients. In 2018, the agency approved 971 generics, more than in any other year. AAPS urges reintroduction of the "Creating and Restoring...