Apr 3, 2025 - Health

FTC halts case against CVS Caremark, OptumRx

Tina Reed

Illustration of a gavel hitting the top of a prescription pill bottle — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Trump administration has paused the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit against major pharmacy benefit managers after two Democratic commissioners were fired earlier this month.

Why it matters: The lawsuit, originally filed last year under the Biden administration, was considered a major challenge to the PBM industry after the agency accused the drug middlemen of inflating the price of insulin and driving up costs to diabetes patients.

Driving the news: The FTC issued the stay in the case against CVS Caremark, OptumRx and Express Scripts in response to a motion "citing the fact that there are currently no sitting Commissioners able to participate in this matter."

Both Republican commissioners Andrew Ferguson, the FTC chairman, and Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, were recused. They did not say why.
Its two Democratic commissioners, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter, were fired earlier this month in a move they called illegal.

What they're saying: "CVS Health is confident the facts are on our side — drugmakers alone set the price of insulin — and we will continue to defend the case vigorously to protect our ability to make insulin affordable for American businesses and their members," the company said in an emailed statement.

The other side: In a post on X, former FTC chairwoman Lina Khan slammed the move as "a gift to the PBMs."

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FTC halts case against CVS Caremark, OptumRx

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