Insulin makers, pharmacy benefit managers to convene on Capitol Hill over insulin pricing

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is holding another hearing this morning on the rising costs of insulin. Instead of inviting diabetes patients and advocacy organizations, as it did at a hearing last week, today’s hearing will feature the three big insulin makers — Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk — as well as three pharmacy benefit managers — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx. It's the second day of hearings in a row for the pharmacy benefit managers, who were grilled yesterday in front of the Senate Finance Committee. One of my DC-savvy STAT colleagues told me that today’s hearing may resemble a “food fight” of sorts: The pharma companies are likely to place blame on the PBMs for the high price of insulin, while the PBMs are likely in turn to blame the companies for setting high prices. You can tune into the hearing starting at 10:30 a.m. here.