News Briefs: Arkansas Sues PBMs, Claims They Worsened Opioid Epidemic

June 27

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, sued UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx and The Cigna Group’s Express Scripts over their alleged roles in the opioid epidemic. In the suit, Griffin accuses the PBMs of profiting from inappropriate opioid prescribing. According to a statement from Griffin’s office, between 2006 and 2014, 1.5 billion “units of addictive opioids” were dispensed in Arkansas, amounting to a rate of 114.6 opioid fills per every 100 Arkansans. The suit alleges that PBMs “increas[ed] opioid utilization by placing opioids on lower tiers of their formularies” and operated online pharmacies that dispensed opioids “while failing to follow state and federal laws on controlled substances.”