An antitrust lawsuit has been filed towards Cigna-owned on-line pharmacy and pharmacy profit supervisor (PBM) Express Scripts by a number of neighborhood, unbiased pharmacies. The swimsuit alleges the corporate teamed with rival PBMs to repair pharmaceutical reimbursement charges and costs and acquire a portion of the income.
PBMs handle pharmacy advantages for healthcare plans, and might negotiate prescription costs to be considerably larger than market worth. PBMs are sometimes referred to as the “middlemen,” as they acquire medication at a low worth for his or her purchasers (i.e., pharmacies, hospital methods, and so on.) for a payment, which then influences the tip price of the prescription drug.
The swimsuit, filed within the Western District of Washington by Berger Montague and cocounsels, claims Categorical Scripts entered into anticompetitive agreements with rival PBMs Prime, Benecard and Magellan to leverage its energy out there to impose excessive reimbursement charges and costs on pharmacies.
The swimsuit claims the corporate would then acquire a share of the revenues garnered by the rival PBMs.
Plaintiffs embody a number of unbiased neighborhood pharmacies that “search to signify a proposed class of pharmacies throughout the nation and recoup a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in wrongful overcharges,” in accordance with an announcement.
Categorical Scripts didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
