ALEXANDRIA, Va.  — Sen. Ron Wyden (D, Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, this week visited Grants Pass Pharmacy in Grants Pass, Ore. Grants Pass Pharmacy is owned by National Community Pharmacists Association board member Michele Belcher, and has been serving the Southern Oregon community since 1933. NCPA senior vice president of government affairs Karry La Violette attended the visit as well.

Wyden touted that independent community pharmacies like Belcher’s are “key to quality of life in smaller Oregon towns and great allies in the battle to reduce prescription drug prices.” Wyden and Belcher also discussed efforts to reduce drug prices that are underway in the Senate Finance Committee, including the senator’s intention to work with the committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R, Iowa) to advance legislation to address affordability and access. Wyden specifically highlighted his Creating Transparency to Have Drug Rebates Unlocked (C-THRU) Act (S. 476), which would require pharmacy benefit managers in Medicare to pass through to plan sponsors a minimum percent of the aggregate amount of rebates they negotiate as well as provide negotiated prices of Part D drugs at the point of sale.

La Violette said, “We’re grateful to have Senator Wyden’s support of community pharmacy and its patients, whether by visiting pharmacies like Michele Belcher’s Grants Pass Pharmacy, leading a bipartisan investigation into PBM spread pricing, or hauling in PBM executives to testify about their business tactics before the Senate Finance Committee. We agree that more transparency and a simpler system are needed and are eager to