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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — Hundreds of independent pharmacists swarmed the House and Senate office buildings one recent afternoon, climbing the marble staircases as they rushed from one appointment to the next, pitching lawmakers on their plan to rein in the soaring drug prices that have enraged American consumers. As they crowded into lawmakers’ offices, describing themselves as the industry’s “white hats,” they pointed a finger at pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts and CVS Health, which handle the drug coverage of millions of Americans. “Want to reduce prescription drug costs?” the pharmacists argued during their visits. “Pay attention to the middlemen.” A civil war has broken out among the most powerful players in the pharmaceutical industry — including brand-name and generic drug makers, and even your local pharmacists — with each blaming others for the rising price of medicine. It is an industry that was already spending nearly double what other business sectors in the United States economy allocate on lobbying, and those sums continue to rise. President Trump has only heightened anxiety by accusing the drug industry of “getting away with murder,” even though he has not weighed in with his own proposal. For now, lawmakers are facing an almost daily assault. “Everyone is very eager to maximize their profits and get a piece of the pie, and sorting it all out is complicated,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. The question is whether a rare confluen... Link to the full article to read more