6 March 2019 - Drug company executives indicated last week they would be willing to slash their prices if they no longer were forced to pay middlemen the kind of discounts that many blame for driving up the cost of prescription drugs for consumers.

Now, a first-term Republican senator is trying to turn that pledge into a reality with a new bill banning the practice of "rebates" in which drugmakers pay middlemen in the confusing drug-pricing chain to make sure their drugs are covered by insurers. 

Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) this week introduced a measure to end rebates negotiated between drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers in transactions conducted in the private sector.

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