ALEXANDRIA, Va.  – The National Community Pharmacists Association issued the following statement from CEO B. Douglas Hoey after Alvaro Bedoya was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Federal Trade Commission:

B. Douglas Hoey

“NCPA supported Alvaro Bedoya’s nomination because we believe that he shares the commitment to investigating pharmacy benefit managers and empowering consumer choice by preserving small business competition. We congratulate him on his confirmation and are eager to work with him on these important issues.

“With the FTC at full strength, NCPA again strongly encourages Chair Lina Khan and fellow commissioners to proceed as soon as possible with an examination into pharmacy benefit manager practices that affect drug prices and disadvantage independent community pharmacies and patients.”

In his November 2021 nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, Bedoya endorsed prioritizing smaller competitors’ ability to compete against larger incumbents. Nodding to independent pharmacy in his opening statement, Bedoya said, “Small business owners struggling in the face of unprecedented consolidation. On this last point, I’ll just give one example. We spend a lot of time with family in Louisiana. A lot of them are in health care. And they talk about how when a hurricane comes through, the last pharmacies to close and then the first to reopen, are independent pharmacies. These community pharmacies are critical to rural America and urban America. And yet it’s precisely these pharmacies that are shutting down due to unprecedented consolidation.”