NCPA cautions FTC in Caremark, Zink Health Services settlement

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) has filed public comments with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) saying it’s worried the agency’s proposed settlement with Caremark and Zink Health Services could have serious unintended consequences on independent pharmacies. The NCPA says it supports meaningful relief that addresses pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) rebate practices that inflate insulin list prices, but it would like to see the FTC narrow its waiver of liability, strengthen data protections and clarify enforcement authority over non-insulin PBM conduct. “The FTC’s insulin case is important, but the settlement should not become a vehicle for giving PBMs broader immunity, weakening future enforcement, or creating new opportunities for misuse of pharmacy-level data,” said Matthew Seiler, senior vice president and general counsel of NCPA. “Independent pharmacies should not be forced to disclose competitively sensitive acquisition-cost information to vertically integrated PBMs that also own their direct competitors just to obtain allegedly fair reimbursement, especially when the proposed data protections are plainly inadequate.” The NCPA’s comments further ask the FTC to build a fuller public record before final approval, including an explanation of how the settlement relates to separate PBM investigations, congressional findings and civil investigative demands. The association emphasizes that federal and state enforcement authority must be preserved, particularly because independent pharmacies often face practical barriers to private enforcement, including arbitration provisions, confidentiality restrictions, high costs, unequal access to information, and potential network consequences. “The commission can and should secure insulin-related relief without handing PBMs a litigation shield for unrelated conduct,” Seiler said. “Any final order should identify exactly what is being resolved, expressly preserve everything else, and make sure independent pharmacies are not forced to disclose sensitive business information to the very companies they compete against.” Read the NCPA’s full comments here.

• Related: The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) has sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) responding to the agency’s request for information on the pharmacy benefit manager reform passed earlier this year.