Visualize Your Goal (Or Not)
PhRMA just announced it will launch a direct-to-consumer drug site in January. Novartis will be the first up, offering Cosentyx at a 55 percent markdown off its own list price. On paper it looks like progress. A cleaner storefront, fewer middlemen, maybe lower out-of-pocket bills.
But the real story isn’t about Pharma playing hero. It’s about how the insurance and PBM racket created this mess in the first place.
For decades, patients have been trapped in a shell game run by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). They invented “formularies” that block access to drugs unless patients jump through flaming hoops. They cut secret rebate deals that pad their profits while patients pay inflated co-pays at the pharmacy counter. They slow-walk prior authorizations, delay treatments, and deny claims on technicalities until people give up or die waiting.
They are the reason Americans pay two, three, even four times more than other countries for the exact same drugs.
So now Pharma is cutting them out because patients are sick of being shaken down by insurance middlemen. PBMs pretend to “negotiate savings” and “manage costs.” What they really do is insert themselves as toll collectors, deciding which drugs make the cut and which patients get punished.
A direct channel from manufacturer to patient exposes just how unnecessary PBMs and insurers have become in the drug pricing chain. If a company can sell at half price without them, what exactly have these middlemen been doing with the money?
Now. this won’t fix everything. Patients with rare diseases or complex regimens will still face obscene bills. But the insurance and PBM scam has been the central driver of financial toxicity in cancer care and beyond. If this new model forces transparency and weakens their chokehold, then good.
Patients need every crack in their armor.
If this hits home, toss it a like, a repost, comment, or tag someone you may be ambivalent about. One click makes a bigger difference than you think.
SOURCE ➡️ https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/phrma-launch-direct-to-consumer-drug-website-2025-09-29/