House Committee holds hearing on U.S. manufacturing of pharmaceuticals

On June 11, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee held a hearing titled "Made in America: Strengthening Domestic Manufacturing and the Health Care Supply Chain." While much of the hearing focused on prospective tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals and efforts to onshore drug manufacturing, community pharmacy issues and PBM reform also featured in witness testimony and questions from members of Congress.

One of the witnesses, Josh Bolin of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, touched on the challenges for community pharmacies to fully comply with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, which is set to be implemented this fall for manufacturers, wholesalers, and chain pharmacies. Another—John Murphy, president and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines—at several points in his testimony specifically mentioned PBM reform (alongside changes to the tax code, environmental permitting processes, and the FDA inspections process) as a major factor that could help bring drug manufacturing back to the U.S. and expand capacity. He characterized PBM reform as an effort that would "take the stranglehold over pricing that is occurring in this country back, and put it back in the driver's seat."

Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) also brought up the benefits of PBM reform for domestic manufacturing, saying "if we ... dealt with PBM reform, I think that would go a long way to achieving what we're all hoping for today." Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) indicated she would supply a question for the record for the witnesses on PBM reform's relationship to onshoring. Lastly, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) thanked Murphy for his frequent mentions of reform in his testimony, adding "my first PBM reform bill was in 2019, as an Iowa state senator. It's been a long time coming for PBM reform.”