Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said this week that a move by the Cigna Group, the parent company of Express Scripts, touting their further advancement of transparency and affordability for consumers and clients will not stop his lawsuit against them.
The Cigna Group announced on Thursday several actions to further evolve its pharmacy benefit management (PBM) model, including driving down costs for consumers, offering clients a new level of transparency, and enhancing disclosures and clarity.
Cigna’s announcement comes two and a half weeks after Yost filed a landmark lawsuit against Express Scripts, Cigna Group, and five other companies blaming them for illegally driving up drug prices and ultimately pushing those higher costs onto patients.
According to Yost, time will tell how real Cigna Group’s new practices will be.
“Days after I sued Cigna and others over their anti-competitive practices and lack of transparency, they magically decide to become more transparent. Good – we will see how real it is,” Yost said.
The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware County Common Pleas Court, claims that the companies have maintained dominance over most of the pharmaceutical market due to industry consolidation. According to Yost, these pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) have destroyed transparency while planning behind closed doors to regulate medicine prices on all market sides.
The lawsuit alleges numerous violations of Ohio’s antitrust law, the Valentine Act, which forbids price fixing, controlled sales, and other agreements restricting trade and harming competition. In that the Ohio statute forbids market harms in addition to consumer harms, the Valentine Act is more expansive than its federal counterpart, the Sherman Act.
Yost claims that the defendant’s illegal arrangement has harmed manufacturers, pharmacies, employers, and drug consumers.
According to Yost, while this move by the Cigna Group may prove to be genuine, it will not call an end to the lawsuit at hand.
“However welcome this move may prove to be, it doesn’t settle our lawsuit, or fit their anti-competitive practices it’s full steam ahead in court,” Yost said.
His agency requested for a Delaware County Common Pleas judge to fine all seven corporations in the lawsuit $500 apiece for every day that their plan was operational and also sought an order for each to disgorge all ill-gotten proceeds from the trading conspiracy.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Dave Yost” by Dave Yost. Background Photo “CIGNA Headquarters” by Sphilbrick. CC BY-SA 3.0.
