PBMs took payments from manufacturers to allow free flow of opioids, NYT reports

For years, pharmacy benefit managers took payments from opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, in return for not restricting the flow of pills, The New York Times’ Chris Hamby reports. As tens of thousands of Americans overdosed and died from prescription painkillers, the middlemen collected billions of dollars in payments, Hamby writes. The three dominant PBMs –Cigna’s (CI) Express Scripts, CVS Caremark (CVS), and UnitedHealth’s (UNH) Optum Rx — oversee prescriptions for more than 200 million people, the Times notes, adding that regulators have accused the largest PBMs of anticompetitive practices. Other opioid manufacturers include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Endo (ENDP), Teva (TEVA), and AbbVie’s (ABBV) Allergan.