A new piece of legislation regarding transparency requirements for prescription drug pricing was signed into law by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy on Thursday.

A major component of the law is that it requires drug companies to justify price increases if the cost rises by 20 percent in one year or by 50 percent over the course of three years.

“The constant price increases of even the most basic prescription drugs are out of control and I’m thrilled the Governor signed our bill and that Connecticut consumers will finally get the answers they have been looking for when it comes to why costs keep going up,” said Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) who helped introduce the law.

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The bill also requires the following:

1. Information about new drugs in the FDA approval pipeline so we can better plan for new drug spending on the state employee plan and Medicaid.

 2. Insurers must include information on the top 25 highest cost drugs, top 25 with greatest increases and the portion of premium that increased because of drug spending on plan when they file their rates with the state Insurance Department.

3. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) must disclose rebates they received from drug companies and amount of rebate they passed onto consumers versus the amount they retained. Connecticut would become the first state in the country to require this.

4. Insurers must either provide consumers with point of sale rebate at pharmacy counter or certify that they are using rebates to lower premiums