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Major health care companies keep getting taken to court

A CVS Pharmacy in Los Angeles
Photo: Ronen Tivony/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

The Department of Justice's lawsuit against CVS Health, alleging the falsification of old prescriptions and creation of new improper refills, wasn't the only major legal battle in health care world yesterday.

Driving the news: The Federal Trade Commission is suing to block Illumina's $1.2 billion takeover of PacBio, which competes with Illumina for DNA sequencing that helps find disease patterns.

  • "When a monopolist buys a potential rival, it can harm competition. These deals help monopolists maintain power," FTC Bureau of Competition Deputy Director Gail Levine said in a release.

Michigan is the first state to sue opioid distributors — specifically AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson and Walgreens — as drug dealers.

  • "Wall Street underestimates the magnitude and depth of the opioid situation and the extent to which plaintiffs will seek restitution," stock analysts with Robert W. Baird & Co. wrote on the news.

A new class-action lawsuit, filed by a physician in Illinois, alleges TeamHealth violated federal communications law by texting recruitment pitches to physicians without their consent.

The bottom line: The health care industry takes up a lot space in the courts, given the nature of medical treatments and the ties to taxpayer funding. And all of this is happening while we await the imminent decision on the latest ACA case.

Go deeper: A health care settlement parade

Lawsuits