On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it secured a settlement agreement with Caremark Rx LLC and Zinc Health Services LLC. This follows a separate settlement the FTC announced in February with Cigna/Express Scripts. We’re still studying the latest agreement and will have a more complete assessment to come.
However, Matthew Seiler, NCPA’s general counsel, says, “There are some key distinctions between the CVS decision and the ESI Decision and Orders that stand out. The CVS D&O, for example, is confined to commercial plans. That’s disadvantageous for taxpayers, and independent pharmacies whose patients are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other taxpayer plans. Like the ESI D&O, the FTC seems content to broadly release CVS from any potential regulatory oversight for current anticompetitive practices that fall within the scope of the FTC’s 2023 investigation of how they treat competitor pharmacies, which was subject to litigation that was not decided until February of 2025. So, while we are still analyzing the decisions to determine how they will affect independent pharmacies and their patients, there appear to be some very big concessions for CVS and question marks for the FTC.”
