Manatt’s Ian Spatz, a senior advisor with our Manatt Health team, discussed with the Sacramento Bee Governor Gavin Newsom’s move to create the largest single purchaser of prescription drugs in the country.
The publication noted that the idea behind Newsom’s decision to combine negotiations for about 13 million people in a government-administered plan is that a bigger organization can demand better prices from pharmaceutical companies.
“The real flaw here I think is an understanding flaw that just bigger means being able to negotiate more,” said Spatz. “In the drug world, the better prices have come from your ability to favor one drug over another by using formularies.”