The heightened scrutiny of pharmacy benefit managers by federal agencies continues to pick up steam. Late last week, the Federal Trade Commission changed course on previous statements opposing state legislation that would boost transparency over the entities that manage prescription drug benefits.

"We want to make sure that prior statements are not being relied on in a way that could be impeding ongoing efforts at the state level or even at the federal level to be examining the practices of these PBMs and in some cases, requiring certain types of transparency or disclosure requirements," FTC Chair Lina Khan said.

During a meeting on July 20, the FTC voted to withdraw its prior advocacy statements, studies and reports in support of PBMs, as part of its ongoing investigation in the PBM market, and issued a statement.