Plaintiffs (including NCPA) filed a response to a motion to dismiss by GoodRx and several PBMs in a class action lawsuit alleging the firms engaged in a price-fixing scheme to fix reimbursements to independent pharmacies in violation of federal antitrust law. The new filing argues that, contrary to the defendants’ suggestion in their motion to dismiss, the agreement between GoodRx and the PBMs was to fix prices automatically at the point of sale, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The conduct was not simply an exchange of competitive information, but rather an automated algorithmic and targeted lowering of reimbursements to pharmacies. GoodRx and the PBM defendants profited. Independent pharmacies suffered. That was the point.
As GoodRx publicly admitted, the ISP scheme was “painful” for independent pharmacies. For the pharmacies, already struggling in a competitive, low-margin marketplace, plaintiffs argued the ISP posed an existential threat.
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