Pharmacy Benefit Managers and Vertical Relationships in Drug Supply: State of Current Research

Zarek C. Brot-Goldberg; Catherine Che; Benjamin R. Handel

doi:10.3386/w29959

Pharmacy Benefit Managers and Vertical Relationships in Drug Supply: State of Current Research

Zarek C. Brot-Goldberg, Catherine Che & Benjamin R. Handel

Working Paper 29959

DOI 10.3386/w29959

Issue Date April 2022

Despite their importance to the supply of prescription drugs, there has been limited research on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and their vertical relationships to insurers and drug manufacturers. This paper provides an overview of the current state of research on this topic, motivates why further research is needed, and discusses promising theoretical and empirical directions for that research.

This paper was prepared for the 2021 University of Chicago Stigler Center Economics of Healthcare Conference. We thank Mark Shepard and Ashley Swanson for excellent discussions. This research was supported by an Arnold Ventures grant ”Competition between Pharmacy Benefit Managers: A Structural Analysis of Multi-Sided Markets.” The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
MARC RIS BibTeΧ

Pharmacy Benefit Managers and Vertical Relationships in Drug Supply: State of Current Research

Related

Topics

Programs

Working Groups

Mentioned in the News

More from NBER