Express Scripts by Evernorth, the pharmacy benefits manager owned by Cigna Group $(CI)$, said Tuesday it has filed a suit in federal court in Missouri against the Federal Trade Commission for making "unsubstantiated, false and biased claims" about the PBM industry. The St. Louis-based company said the agency's July 2024 report fails to take into account the value that PBMs deliver to consumers and patients. PBMs are intermediaries who manage prescription-drug benefits on behalf of insurers, large employers and other payers. The suit demands that the FTC retract the report. "The FTC has taken unconstitutional actions in publishing a report that ignores the evidence provided by our company and other PBMs, demonstrates clear ideological bias and advances a false and damaging narrative - a narrative that could harm the health care system by removing essential checks and balances which would result in higher drug prices for American consumers," said Andrea Nelson, chief legal officer for Cigna, in prepared remarks. Express Scripts fully cooperated with the FTC study for more than two years, meeting extensive demands for data and information, yet the report disregarded millions of documents and terabytes of data, she added. Cigna's stock was slightly higher premarket and has gained 23% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 18%.
-Ciara Linnane
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 17, 2024 07:25 ET (11:25 GMT)
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