CVS, UnitedHealth say FTC should remove Lina Khan and two commissioners from PBM case | Wilnesh News

CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group Calls for FTC Chairwoman Lena Khan and two other commissioners to recuse themselves litigation These companies and other drug middlemen are accused of driving up the cost of insulin for Americans while increasing profits.

In separate motions filed with the FTC on Tuesday night, CVS and UnitedHealth argued that all three commissioners have extensive records of making public statements that demonstrate “serious bias” against the company’s alleged pharmacy benefit managers.

The companies accused Khan, along with commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, of falsely asserting that PBMs are “price gougers” that regulate pricing and access to drugs like insulin. Have significant control. CVS said the statements showed the commissioners “prejudged the matter” and therefore their involvement in the case “violated due process.”

“If the antonym of ‘complete fairness’ is ‘blatant bias,’ then the three commissioners easily meet that standard,” CVS wrote in a 23-page motion.

Meanwhile, UnitedHealth’s 17-page motion states, “Any judge who makes these remarks to a client at the outset of litigation will be summarily recused for blatant bias.”

The FTC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the motion Wednesday.

Other corporate giants include Amazon and Yuanunsuccessfully sought to disqualify Khan from participating in prior cases or investigations, citing concerns about Khan’s objectivity. Khan rejected the calls, saying she never prejudged any case or facts.

The FTC filed lawsuits last month against three major PBMs: CVS Health’s Caremark; UnitedHealth GroupOptum Rx and CignaExpress script. All of these organizations are owned by or affiliated with health insurance companies and together manage approximately 80% of the nation’s prescriptions, according to the FTC.

PBMs sit at the center of the U.S. drug supply chain, negotiating drug rebates with manufacturers on behalf of insurance companies, creating lists of preferred drugs covered by health plans, and reimbursing pharmacies for prescription costs. Since 2022, the FTC has been investigating PBMs and their role in insulin prices.

The agency’s lawsuit alleges that the three PBMs created an “improper” system that prioritized high rebates from manufacturers, resulting in “artificially high insulin list prices.” The lawsuit also alleges that pharmacy benefit managers preferred insulin with a higher list price even when lower-listed insulins were available.

The lawsuit also names each PBM’s affiliated group purchasing organization (GPO), which represents hospitals and other health care providers in purchasing drugs. Zinc Health Services serves as Caremark’s GPO, and Emisar Pharma serves as OptumRx’s GPO.

The lawsuit is just one of several headwinds CVS faces. The company’s shares have fallen more than 20% this year amid runaway medical costs in the insurance sector and pressure on pharmacy reimbursements.

CVS has hired consultants to conduct a strategic review of its business, which could involve separating the company’s insurance companies from its retail pharmacies. It’s unclear what position Caremark would find itself in if they split.

In Tuesday’s motion, CVS claimed Khan defamed PBM throughout her career. For example, the company cited 2022 Statement In it, Khan said PBMs “actually determine which drugs are prescribed, which pharmacies patients have access to, and how much patients pay at the pharmacy counter.”

CVS also pointed to Slaughter’s previous comments about PBMs’ allegedly “disturbing,” “unacceptable” and “rotten” rebate practices and how she believed they create “distortions of competition in the drug market.” At the same time, the company cited Bedoya’s suggestion that “a significant portion of the blame” for rising insulin prices lies with rebates required by the Pharmacy Benefit Administration.

CVS called the three commissioners’ previous statements about Caremark and other PBMs “false assertions.”

The healthcare giant also claimed that three commissioners participated in off-the-record events to help the anti-PBM lobby raise money during the FTC investigation. CVS argued in the motion that organizers of the events defamed PBM as “vampires” and “vampires.”

With many patients struggling to afford prescription drugs, the Biden administration and lawmakers from both parties have stepped up pressure on PBMs, seeking greater transparency about their business practices. Americans pay on average two to three times more for prescription drugs than patients in other developed countries, according to one agency. Overview From the White House.