News Briefs: PBMs Countersue the FTC, Claiming ‘Unconstitutional’ Case
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Nov 22, 2024
The “Big Three” PBMs countersued the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the FTC’s case against them is unconstitutional. The PBMs’ Nov. 19 lawsuit is the latest salvo in the battle over how the companies treat insulin products on their formularies. In September, the FTC sued The Cigna Group’s Express Scripts, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx and CVS Health Corp.’s Caremark, accusing them of creating “a perverse drug rebate system that prioritizes high rebates from drug manufacturers, leading to artificially inflated insulin list prices.” In their countersuit, the PBMs claim the FTC’s lawsuit violates the Fifth Amendment and is “fundamentally unfair.” They also argue that the FTC’s suit should be litigated in federal court rather than the agency’s own administrative court. “It has become fashionable for corporate giants to argue that a 110-year-old federal agency is unconstitutional to distract from business practices that we allege, in the case of PBMs, harm sick patients by forcing them to pay huge sums for life saving medicine. It will not work,” FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar told CNBC in a statement. Read more
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