Retail Pharmacies File Antitrust Suit Against Express Scripts

On Monday, August 1, 2016, five retail pharmacies filed a class action lawsuit against Express Scripts Inc., alleging that Express Scripts usurped patient prescription data gained from independent pharmacies through its pharmacy benefit management business to divert sales to its competing mail-order pharmacy.  According to the complaint, Express Scripts used the customer information provided to it by the independent pharmacies for insurance eligibility verification and collection purposes to determine when patients are eligible for prescription refills.  As alleged in the complaint, Express Scripts then fills the prescriptions using its mail-order pharmacy, often without the patient’s consent, and collects the insurance payments for itself.  Among other claims, the pharmacies are alleging unjust competition, breach of contract, violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, and fraud.