Federal kickback law might be used to bring down drug prices, FDA commissioner suggests

WASHINGTON — The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb, on Thursday suggested that a key federal law on kickbacks could be reinterpreted by the government to help rein in the prices of prescription drugs.

Drug companies are currently being sued by lawyers who believe that the Byzantine system of rebates that flow between pharmacy benefit managers, drug manufactures, and insurers are really kickbacks. The current interpretation of the federal law shields these rebates from legal scrutiny.

But Gottlieb, in remarks delivered at the annual conference of the Food and Drug Law Institute, signaled that might change.

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