Partnerships with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are critical to maintaining favorable pharmaceutical product market access. HIRC's report, Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Contracting Landscape and Manufacturer Competitive Assessment, reviews pharmacy benefit manager executives' evaluation of manufacturers and focuses on trends in contracting. The report addresses the following questions:

• Which manufacturers do PBMs rate as most willing to contract? Which firms are most willing to contract for medications covered under the pharmacy and medical benefit?
• Which contract types are most frequently executed across therapeutic areas and what are the most common rebate/discount amounts offered? Which contract types are most valuable from the customer's perspective?
• How common are novel contracting types in the pharmacy benefit manager segment?

Key Finding: PBM decision-makers report that flat access rebates with price protection are the most common contract type offered by manufacturers; PBMs expect manufacturers to meaningfully compete on pricing in crowded classes where there may not be notable clinical differentiation.

AbbVie Leads as Pharmacy Benefit Managers' Top Overall Partner of Choice in 2024. PBM key decision-makers were asked to nominate a single pharmaceutical manufacturer as their overall partner of choice in 2024. AbbVie receives the most partner of choice nominations, followed by Pfizer and Amgen. The primary factors driving nominations are a firm's account management support/personnel and demonstrating an understanding of customer's business needs. The full report provides a complete listing of partner of choice nominations and examines the rationale for PBMs' ratings in detail.

PBMs Report that Contracts are Most Common for GLP-1 Antagonists. Pharmacy benefit manager key decision-makers were asked to consider a list of 20+ therapeutic areas and indicate if their organization has a contract in-place or has been offered a contract in the past 12-18 months. Panelists most frequently report contracts for obesity/diabetes - GLP-1 antagonists, followed by rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, migraine, and anticoagulant medications.

The complete report provides the types of contracts reported and most common discount/rebate amounts across 22 therapeutic areas.

Research Methodology and Report Availability. In December 2023 and January 2024, HIRC surveyed 28 pharmacy benefit manager key decision-makers from very large, mid-size, and small/upcoming PBMs. Online surveys and follow-up telephone interviews were used to gather information. The complete report, Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Contracting Landscape and Manufacturer Competitive Assessment, is available now to HIRC’s Managed Markets subscribers at www.hirc.com.