The industry created to keep drug prices in check is capitalizing on a lack of government oversight to rake in huge profits — often at the expense of patients, health plans and pharmacies, critics say.

Drugmakers such as Mylan have been the target of much consumer wrath after the cost of its EpiPen, used to treat potentially deadly reactions to food allergies and bee stings, rose by more than 500 percent in just a few years.

But a lesser-known group of companies called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, also play a critical role in driving up drug prices, said former state Rep. Tim Brown, a Bowling Green Republican. And not enough people know about it.

“There’s capitalism and exploitative capitalism, which is no better than stealing,” said Brown, who helped to push through a 2015 state law to hold pharmacy benefit managers more accountable. “ These pharmacy benefit managers have created a real racket that’s made them into multibillion (dollar) corporations. And we, as government, should be asking why.”

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