Express Scripts Inc, a pharmacy benefit manager owned by Cigna Corp, sued the Federal Trade Commission yesterday over a recent report reviewing the abusive pricing practices used at PBMs.
ESI is asking a federal court in St. Louis, Mo. to order the FTC to pull a report published in June reviewing PBMs’ abusive pricing practices and recuse FTC Chair Lina Khan from any actions pertaining to ESI.
The FTC report said PBMs have been giving their affiliated businesses preferential treatment, steering patients away from independent pharmacies. For its part, the FTC isn’t backing down—after the lawsuit was announced, the agency pointed out that three PBMs control almost 80 percent of the market.
"This is a complicated and opaque market, and the FTC is committed to using its clear authority to help the public and policymakers understand it," said FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar. Read more about the lawsuit here.
