When CVS agreed to acquire insurer Aetna last fall for $66 billion, some wondered about how the deal would impact CVS customers who have different insurance. Would they have to pay higher prices, be denied service, etc? Worst-case scenario sorts of stuff, but clearly matters that government regulators would examine.
Now there is a lawsuit in Florida that, were its allegations borne out, could give those regulators something to dig into.
The plaintiff is Sentry Data Systems, owned by private equity firm ABRY Partners, which is largely focused on facilitating a federal program (340B) that requires drugmakers participating in Medicaid to provide discounts on certain outpatient medicines. In short, it's a middle-man between the manufacturers and distribution locations like CVS pharmacies.
Sentry alleges that after CVS bought rival 340B company Wellpartner last summer, it told many Sentry customers that Wellpartner would become "the exclusive 340B program administrator for all CVS Health retail and specialty pharmacies."
A CVS spokesman tells Axios the suit is "without merit," adding:
