September 30, 2025
Maryland Matters
Danielle Brown
Excerpt:
“County leaders urged the Prescription Drug Affordability Board on Monday to move quickly to set an upper payment limit on two popular drugs prescribed for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.
They got some of their wish. The board directed staff to proceed on the process that will be needed for it to approve upper payment limits on Jardiance and Farxiga, but it also told staff to investigate alternative methods to keep costs of the drugs down.
The county leaders spoke at the outset of a 2.5-hour meeting, just the latest in the almost six-year history of the board as it moves slowly toward reining in the cost of select prescription drugs for state workers and state health plans.
The board is closing in on approving upper payment limits, a cap on what the state would be willing to pay for the drugs Jardiance and Farxiga. But the board is also looking at “non-UPL” options still. Those include imposing a penalty on drug manufacturers for price increases that exceed the rate of inflation, creating navigators to help patients find the most-affordable drug and, the most complicated option, finding a way to decouple compensation for pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen who negotiate lower drug prices, from inflation or rebates.
For the county leaders — who are featured in a new digital advertising campaign to bring attention to the board’s work — the answer is upper payment limits, and soon.”
Read the full article at MarylandMatters.com
Last modified: October 7, 2025
