FTC Sues “Big 3” PBMs Over Insulin Rebating Practices
This Bulletin is brought to you by AHLA’s Antitrust Practice Group.
- November 21, 2024
- Payton Thornton , Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC
On September 20, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint against several pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and their affiliated group purchasing organizations (GPOs) for alleged violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act. The FTC contends that “chase-the-rebate” strategies pursued by Caremark Rx, Express Scripts, Optum Rx, and their affiliated GPOs (PBM Respondents) are unfair methods of competition that led to systematic preferencing of high list price insulin with higher corresponding rebates and fees over lower list price insulins with lower associated rebates. The FTC alleges these strategies are coercive, exploitative, and restrictive and go beyond competition on the merits. Notably, the FTC’s complaint does not contain any allegations of traditional antitrust violations under Sections 1 or 2 of the Sherman Act.
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