August 23, 2011—New CaptureRx board member and executive Billy Tauzin will advocate actively on behalf of the company, its clients and the wider 340B provider community before Congress and the executive branch and with the drug industry and government and private payers, company co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Ed Gilmartin said in an interview with the Drug Discount Monitor.
The 340B services company, which helps covered entities maximize the benefits of participating in the drug discount program while remaining compliant with federal rules, announced that Tauzin was joining its management team last week.
Although Tauzin, the former chief executive of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), remains a consultant to his successor there, John Castellani, Gilmartin said “there is no conflict of interest” and that Tauzin will “help our current clients and pharmacy network and the 340B community at large” in supporting and protecting—but not expanding—340B.
More specifically, Gilmartin anticipates that the former Louisiana congressman will work “to build bridges” between the 340B community and drug manufacturers as well as with federal policymakers. “Billy will be helping really everybody in 340B on the Hill,” he said.
Gilmartin noted that Tauzin, who changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 1995, was one of the few members of Congress “who actually held leadership positions in both parties.”
“He has a great reputation on both sides of the aisle. In this unsettled political environment that we’re in we wanted to make sure for our user groups and 340B overall that there is this bridge of understanding,” Gilmartin explained. “We decided we are going to be pro-active and take a leadership position. By bringing Billy on board and working with other stakeholders we can really get a lot done.”
Gilmartin said that with Tauzin as their advocate, 340B providers will be better able to “control, manage and protect” the provision in health care reform that exempted 340B drugs from the expansion of the Medicaid rebate program to Medicaid managed care organizations. He also said that Tauzin will “work to get key stakeholders together” to address 340B providers’ worry that pharmacy benefits managers and private payers will use new National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) standards to ratchet down reimbursement for 340B retail drugs.
“The covered entities and the companies that they hire to manage their programs need to be in greater control and have a greater voice,” Gilmartin said. “We know this marketplace. We know how this program works better than anybody. And that was the whole driving force behind” the decision to bring Tauzin on board.
Tauzin, he pointed out, was instrumental in the creation of PhRMA’s Partnership for Prescription Assistance and has always had a concern for individuals who cannot access medications. “In the same vein, this follows suit,” Gilmartin continued. “He embraces the objective of the 340B community and knows that for many covered entities, the program is probably their single largest source of revenue and that it’s especially vital in these cost-cutting times.”