STAT+: U.S. judge blocks first-in-the-nation law barring companies from owning PBMs and pharmacies in Arkansas
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In a closely watched case, a U.S. federal court judge has temporarily blocked a first-in-the-nation law<\/a> that would prohibit companies that own pharmacy benefit managers from also operating both retail and mail-order pharmacies in Arkansas.<\/p>\n The state law is designed to eliminate concerns that the largest pharmacy benefit managers \u2014\u00a0which are controlled by CVS Health, Cigna, and UnitedHealth Group \u2014 favor their own pharmacy operations. Critics have argued that by doing so, the companies not only dominate the design of health plans for tens of millions of Americans, but distort the distribution and pricing for prescription medicines.<\/p>\n Their pharmacy benefit managers \u2014 CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx \u2014 processed nearly 80% of the roughly 6.6 billion prescriptions dispensed by U.S. pharmacies in 2023, according to a report<\/a> from the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier this year, the agency released another report<\/a> accusing the companies of boosting prices of specialty generic drugs sold through their pharmacies.<\/p>\n Continue to STAT+ to read the full story\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n