💬 Quoted: “These powerful middlemen may be profiting by inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies.”

• Yesterday, the FTC published the first report from its ongoing investigation into US pharmacy-benefit managers (PBMs), or companies that manage prescription drug benefits on behalf of employers and health insurers. In the report, FTC officials highlight how unchecked consolidation has led to the three largest PBMs controlling ~80% of all prescriptions filled in the US, along with the six largest PBMs controlling ~95% of the market. Moreover, the largest PBMs are all owned by insurers which, in turn, also own specialty, mail-order, or retail pharmacies. The report says the current arrangement may be (🤔) contributing to higher drug costs for American patients, since it allows a small handful of companies to influence which drugs are available – and at what price.

⏳🙄 Stat of the Day: The friend group always has one that takes their sweet, sweet time – and for the Washington Nationals, it’s their closer, Kyle Finnegan. Finnegan, who’s only pitched ~37 out of his team’s 800+ innings this season, has more pitch-clock violations by himself (nine) than the full pitching staffs of nearly half of the MLB’s 30 teams.

🤔 Did You Know? Penn State University is also home to “ice cream college” – a weeklong annual crash course all about the science behind the frozen treat. Each year, it’s full of employees from major ice cream companies like Hudsonville, Hershey, and Baskin Robbins. (Even Ben & Jerry – the actual humans, not the company – have taken a version of the class.)

📰 Worth a Read: Revolution in the air: how laughing gas changed the world → (The Guardian)