On Tuesday, a federal judge granted NCPA and the Arkansas Pharmacists Association's request for leave to file an amicus brief in support of Arkansas' defense of Act 624. Nearly every major PBM and their affiliated insurers have sued to negate this act, including ESI/Accredo/Cigna, CVS/Caremark/Omnicare /Aetna, PCMA, Navitus (Lumicera/Costco/SSM Health), and OptumRx/Genoa/UHG. The clear purpose of this act was to address the inherent conflicts of interest and resulting harms to plan sponsors, patients, and pharmacies arising from when PBMs own and operate their own pharmacies.
PBMs are large, powerful, and resourceful. They are duty-bound to maximize profit and preventing their profit-maximizing and harmful business practices has proven to be the proverbial game of Whac-A-Mole. The Arkansas legislature and governor had an obligation to act in the best interests of the state, not PBMs' shareholders, and they ultimately concluded that PBM ownership of pharmacies was the root of the problem. NCPA and APA couldn’t agree more. To read our combined brief, please see here.
