US EditionBoom! FTC Squeezes Concessions from Cigna’s Express Scripts
Express Scripts will end high-price drug preferences, increase transparency, and adopt a cost-plus pharmacy reimbursement model to reduce insulin costs by up to $7 billion over 10 years.
- The FTC announced Wednesday a `landmark` settlement allowing Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager owned by Cigna, to exit its lawsuit, estimating patient savings of $7 billion over a decade.
- The FTC sued Express Scripts, UnitedHealth's Optum Rx and CVS Caremark in September 2024 alleging PBM negotiating practices steered insurers toward higher-cost drugs, amid a decade of regulatory scrutiny.
- Express Scripts agreed to structural and behavioral remedies including eliminating spread pricing, delinking rebates and fees from list prices, relocating Ascent Health Services to the U.S., and adopting cost-plus reimbursement for independent pharmacies starting in 2027.
- Employers, brokers and plan sponsors should note the National Community Pharmacists Association said the deal will lower copays and address below-cost reimbursements causing pharmacy closures while cases against Optum and CVS Caremark continue.
- The settlement gives the FTC leverage to push broader PBM reforms as in recent years CVS, UnitedHealth and Cigna have rolled out new pricing models and scrutiny continues on Prime Therapeutics.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Cigna Settles FTC Lawsuit Alleging It Inflated Insulin Costs
Cigna Group’s Express Scripts reached a settlement with federal antitrust enforcers to resolve allegations that the company artificially inflated the price of insulin for patients through illegal rebate tactics.
FTC, Express Scripts Reach Landmark Settlement to Lower Insulin Prices
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, Inc. have reached what the FTC called a landmark settlement of a lawsuit brought by the agency, alleging that the company artificially inflated insulin drug prices. According to a Feb. 4 FTC statement, Express Scripts will now be required to adopt “fundamental changes to its business practices that increase transparency.” This is expected to lower patients’ out-of-p…
Hastings Tribune
Boom! FTC Squeezes Concessions from Cigna’s Express Scripts
Alexandria, Va., Feb. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Community Pharmacists Association cheered an announcement by the Federal Trade Commission today that insurance giant Cigna has agreed to make big concessions to help remedy years of unfair business practices…
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