What Recent PBM Updates Mean for Pharmacy in 2025 | NCPDP 2025
Cami Agena, Esq, and Candida Ruesga, Esq, discuss pharmacy benefit manager reform by providing insights from their experience as legal partners in complex PBM matters.
When it comes to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform on the federal level, congressmen and women have failed to pass any notable legislation in recent history despite significant bipartisan support to regulate PBMs. Several states, however, have been significantly active in introducing new PBM reforms and ameliorating their immense control within the pharmaceutical market.
At the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) 2025 Annual Conference, held May 5 to May 7 in Scottsdale, Arizona, Drug Topics caught up with Cami Agena, Esq, and Candida Ruesga, Esq, from The Phoenix Law Group—a law firm specializing in PBM matters. During NCPDP 2025, the 2 presented on PBMs and their current role in the drug supply chain from a legal perspective.
In our discussion with Agena and Ruesga, they touched on both federal- and state-level PBM reform, where it’s headed in the year 2025, and how it will impact the pharmacy industry. From a recent Arkansas law banning joint ownership of PBMs and pharmacies, to the focus on transparency in many federal PBM reform bills, they provided expert insights into where they feel the ongoing tension between PBMs and pharmacists will ultimately end up in the near future.
Stay tuned for more from our discussion with Agena and Ruesga, who further discussed the PBM practices, bills, and other events that impact pharmacists. In the next part of our interview, they will discuss their predictions for where PBM reform could end up at the end of this year.
Read more from our coverage of NCPDP 2025.
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