The U.S. Supreme Courtroom has declined to overview an appeals courtroom ruling that struck down key elements of an Oklahoma regulation regulating the retail networks created by pharmacy profit managers, a victory for the controversial middlemen within the pharmaceutical provide chain that will create uncertainty throughout the nation.
The regulation, which was enacted in 2019, was designed to make sure that pharmacy profit managers keep entry to numerous pharmacies and don’t steer sufferers to favored shops, amongst different issues. The transfer got here amid elevated concern that opaque enterprise practices had been elevating prescription drug prices for shoppers and well being plans, typically by squeezing independently owned pharmacies.
However the Pharmaceutical Care Administration Affiliation, a commerce group for pharmacy profit managers, sued to dam the regulation and objected to Oklahoma’s try to “intervene” with efforts to manage well being plans that promote “reasonably priced selections” for sufferers. Particularly, the group argued the regulation was preempted underneath the Worker Retirement Earnings Safety Act and the Medicare Half D program.
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