Express Scripts sues FTC over drug pricing report, court documents show
Adds detail from the complaint and FTC comment in paragraphs 4-8, updates headline, byline and dateline
By Jody Godoy
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) -Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts sued the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday over the regulator's recent drug pricing report, calling the report's conclusion that the prescription middlemen raise drug costs defamatory.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge in St. Louis, Missouri to order the FTC to take the report down and recuse Chair Lina Khan from any actions pertaining to the company, which is owned by Cigna Corp CI.N.
The FTC said in the July report that market consolidation has led to PBMs favoring their own affiliated businesses, which creates conflicts of interest that prevent smaller independent pharmacies from staying competitive by steering patients away from them.
The report leans heavily on public comments and ignores reams of evidence the PBMs provided, Express Scripts said in its lawsuit. The report has led to lawsuits against the company and probes by state regulators and federal lawmakers, it said.
"The Commission was intended to be a bipartisan defender of consumers and fair competition, not an ideological pawn driven by political winds and special interests," the company said.
"The FTC stands by our study," said FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar, adding that three companies control nearly 80% of the market.
"This is a complicated and opaque market, and the FTC is committed to using its clear authority to help the public and policymakers understand it," Farrar said.
The three biggest PBMs are UnitedHealth Group Inc's UNH.N Optum unit, CVS Health Corp's CVS.N CVS Caremark and Express Scripts.
Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York; editing by Andrew Heavens and Chizu Nomiyama
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
