A new biosimilar payment boost, a true, but more limited patient-directed pass-through rebate plan, and product hopping legislation are among the more than two-dozen amendments that could be added to the Senate Finance Committee’s PBM reform package. 

House Energy and Commerce Committee cleared a PBM bill that seems to contain more transparency loopholes and makes more limited policy tweaks to the drug supply chain middleman than the Senate HELP Committee’s bill, but the House-side legislation would pull back the curtain on specialty-drug reimbursement in a way the Senate version does not.

Delinking pharmacy benefits managers’ compensation from the prices of drugs received bipartisan rhetorical support at a HELP markup, but the panel only cleared less drastic PBM reforms along with generic and orphan-drug focused policies. Approved amendments tackled step therapy, pharma transparency and PBM gag clauses, among other topics.