CVS and Express Scripts sue Arkansas over restriction on pharmacy
benefit managers
[May 30, 2025]
By ANDREW DeMILLO
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — CVS and Express Scripts asked a federal judge
on Thursday to block a law prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers from
owning or operating pharmacies in Arkansas, challenging the first such
restriction enacted by a state.
The lawsuits come a little over a month after Gov. Sarah Huckabee
Sanders signed the legislation restricting pharmacy benefit managers,
also known as PBMs, which run prescription drug coverage for big clients
that include health insurers and employers that provide coverage.
Supporters of the Arkansas law have said it's needed because PBMs are
forcing independent pharmacies, especially those in rural areas, to
close.
But in its lawsuit, Express Scripts said the measure would end up having
“devastating consequences” and force pharmacies around the state to
close.
“And it will create mass confusion among Arkansans about where and how
they can receive needed prescription medications, irreparably breaking
bonds that patients have formed over many years with their pharmacists
and pharmacy-provided home-visit nurses,” the company's lawsuit said.
In a separate lawsuit, CVS said the new law “represents an assault on
free commerce between the states and the foundational principles of
fair-market competition that underpin the Union.”
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The exterior view of a CVS branch is shown on Tuesday, May 16, 2023,
in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez,File)
 CVS, which ran TV ads urging Sanders
to veto the legislation, has said it would have to close its 23
retail pharmacies in the state if the law takes effect.
Attorney General Tim Griffin defended the law on Thursday, saying
PBMs' “wield outsized power to reap massive profits at the expense
of consumers.”
“Through Act 624, Arkansas is standing up to PBMs on behalf of
consumers, and I will vigorously defend our law,” Griffin said in a
statement.
Arkansas is among several states where lawmakers have taken up
efforts to regulate PBMs, and a group of attorneys general urged
Congress last month to pass legislation similar to Arkansas' law.
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