FTC Accuses Pharmacy Benefit Managers of Conspiring to Inflate Insulin Prices

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission has sued the three largest prescription drug benefit managers (PBMs), CVS Health’s Caremark Rx, Cigna’s Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth’s OptumRx, accusing them of engaging in anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices that have artificially inflated the list price of insulin drugs.

According to a Sept. 20 press release, the administrative complaint, which has not yet been made public, also names the PBMs’ subsidiary group purchasing organizations (GPOs), Zinc Health Services, Ascent Health Services, and Emisar Pharma Services.

Defendants engaged in unfair methods of competition and unfair acts or practices under Section 5 of the …