Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
UnitedHealth, Cigna and CVS Caremark are accusing FTC chair Lina Khan of being too biased to take part in proceedings tied to the commission's lawsuit against their pharmacy benefit manager businesses.
Catch up fast: The FTC in September sued the country's three largest prescription drug middlemen, accusing them of illegally inflating the price of insulin and driving up costs for diabetes patients.
The move followed an earlier report by the commission on the businesses, known as PBMs, which outlined a system in which industry consolidation allows them to manipulate markets at the expense of patients, Axios' Maya Goldman wrote.
Driving the news: In separate court motions filed yesterday, the companies called on a federal judge to remove Kahn and two other commissioners based on their past comments.
"If the opposite of 'complete fairness' is 'blatant bias,' the Three Commissioners would easily satisfy even that standard," CVS wrote in a 23-page motion, per CNBC.
Cigna argued that Khan's public statements show "she has already made up her mind regarding the key questions at issue in this matter," per Reuters.
