FTC Weighs Merger's Impact on Specialty Drugs

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The Federal Trade Commission is taking a hard look at whether the proposed $29 billion merger of prescription-drug benefit managers Inc. and Inc. would impede patients' access to expensive drugs used to treat cancer and certain other life-threatening diseases.

FTC commissioners, including Chairman Jon Leibowitz, have asked many questions about the market for the so-called specialty drugs in meetings with industry groups and others, according to people who have attended the meetings. The questions have involved the relationship between PBMs, which administer prescription-drug coverage for employers and insurers, and the manufacturers of the drugs, these people said.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal