CVS Pharmacy files suit against Arkansas over new law preventing PBM ownership of pharmacies

Yahoo

4 days ago

Video: Arkansas bill would prevent Pharmacy Benefit Managers from owning pharmacies
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A lawsuit filed by a national pharmacy chain and its subsidiaries in the Little Rock federal court on Thursday seeks to overturn a new Arkansas law.
The suit filed by CVS Pharmacy alleges that Act 624 of 2025 violates the Constitution and federal law and asks the court to prevent the law from taking effect. The act was passed during the most recent legislative session to prevent pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies in the state and will take effect on January 1, 2026.
National pharmacy company sues Arkansas over law eliminating PBM pharmacy ownership
Rhode Island-based CVS operates as a pharmacy benefit management company and also has pharmacies in Arkansas. Pharmacy benefits managers act as intermediaries between pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies to set rates, including the compensation amounts paid to pharmacies.
CVS states in the lawsuit that the act would force it to close its 23 Arkansas pharmacies, leaving people without jobs and patients without access to a pharmacy.
The suit continues that the act violates the Constitution's Commerce Clause and Equal Protection Clause by discriminating against non-Arkansas-owned pharmacies. It also claims the act violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Medicare Modernization Act by interfering with health benefits.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs bill blocking PBM ownership of pharmacies into law
A CVS spokesperson said the act's interference with its business led to the lawsuit.
'With Act 624 signed into law, the Arkansas legislature and governor are forcing 23 community pharmacies to close by January 1, 2026, including some of the very few that are open 24 hours; fire more than 500 local health care workers; erode access to specialized pharmacy care for the 10,000 Arkansas patients with serious conditions who rely on additional support; and increase the cost of Arkansas health benefits by millions of dollars each year,' the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson continued that the 23 CVS pharmacies in the state remain open 'and will continue to operate for the immediate future.'
Attorney General Tim Griffin said that PBMs hinder health care access and quality.
'Pharmacy benefit managers wield outsized power to reap massive profits at the expense of consumers,' Griffin said. 'The rise of PBMs as middlemen in the prescription drug market has resulted in patients facing fewer choices, lower quality care, and higher prices.'
Griffin added that PBMs 'leverage their affiliated pharmacies to manipulate prices, corrupt the market, and destroy competition. Through Act 624, Arkansas is standing up to PBMs on behalf of consumers, and I will vigorously defend our law.'
CVS shares statement after Arkansas bill restricting PBMs from owning pharmacies is signed into law
A similar lawsuit was filed earlier on Thursday by national provider Express Scripts against Act 624 on similar, but not identical, grounds.
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