California Targets Drug Price Middlemen After Congress Balks

California lawmakers are keeping up the pressure on drug price middlemen after Congress dropped provisions tightening rules on the industry from President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending bill.

The state Assembly Health Committee is expected to approve Tuesday a measure that would prohibit a range of business practices used by pharmacy benefit managers, which legislators contend are driving up drug prices and running independent pharmacies out of business. Just a few PBMs—CVS Caremark, Cigna Corp.’s Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s OptumRx—control the vast majority of the $600 billion market across the US.

The bill (SB 41), ...