The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is once again going after pharmacy benefit managers (PBM).

The industry lobbying group released a 30-second ad Tuesday hitting out at PBMs as middlemen who get between patients and their medicines. 

The ad, titled “Middlemen Are Everywhere,” features a patient receiving a prescription note from a doctor, only to be interrupted by a suit-wearing man representing a PBM. When asked why she can’t get her prescription filled at her nearby pharmacy, the PBM says that he makes more money when she goes to a pharmacy he owns.

“Insurance companies and their PBMs can profit from where you get your prescription filled,” text in the ad reads. “No one should stand between you and your medicine.”

This is PhRMA’s fourth ad targeting PBMs since it launched a campaign last year to hammer the drug middlemen in the court of public opinion.

The ad is also the latest criticism lodged by PhRMA, and by extension most of the industry, against PBMs, which have come under increasing pressure and scrutiny in recent months.

PhRMA acknowledged and encouraged the push on Capitol Hill to further regulate PBMs for their perceived role in raising prescription drug prices in the U.S.  

Momentum behind a bipartisan plan to hold PBMs to account began in earnest following a hearing held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about insulin prices this spring.

Though the nation’s legislative body is largely divided along partisan lines, the hearing underscored a growing sentiment among lawmakers that PBMs need to be reined in for their impact on high drug prices.

This has not been for a lack of trying from PBM supporters. In May, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association launched a seven-figure ad campaign challenging Big Pharma weeks after the congressional hearing.

PhRMA’s ad was also released one week after the Biden administration announced the 10 prescription drugs that have been selected for Medicare price negotiations as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The organization fought against the passage of the law and has sued to stop the implementation of its provisions targeting price controls for prescription drugs.