The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the trade group representing pharmacy benefit managers, has appointed J.C. Scott as its president and CEO.
Scott is set to start at the group on October 15. He will take over from Mark Merritt, who said in May that he was planning to step down. Merritt led the association for 15 years.
Previously, Scott served as chief advocacy officer and head of external affairs for another trade association, AdvaMed. He spent seven years with the association, which represents medical technology companies, starting there as head of the government affairs department. Scott also spent seven years at the life insurance trade group, American Council of Life Insurers, in its federal relations division.
Earlier in his career, Scott worked on Capitol Hill as deputy director of policy for the House Republican Conference and legislative director for Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH).
Representatives for PCMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
PCMA represents companies including CVS, Express Scripts, Aetna, and Humana. The PBM industry has recently been responding to the federal government’s focus on lowering drug prices. In May, when the Trump administration announced its drug price blueprint, President Donald Trump said the plan was “eliminating the middlemen,” or PBMs.
Since then, the organization has been on an advocacy blitz to shift the drug-pricing blame onto other industries. A recent ad for this campaign targets drugmakers, reading, “The most direct way to reduce costs and improve access to prescription drugs is for drugmakers to cut their prices.”
Despite this initial tough rhetoric, many of the administration’s policies are mixed when it comes to limiting the power of PBMs and their confidential rebate system. Some policies could give PBMs more negotiating power, despite many top officials slamming “middlemen” in statements and speeches.
