STAT+: Major PBMs ask judge to remove Lina Khan from FTC's insulin-price lawsuit

UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, and Cigna have all petitioned a federal judge to sideline Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and the two Democratic FTC commissioners from the agency’s lawsuit against the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers.

Attorneys for UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx, CVS Caremark, and Cigna’s Express Scripts contend Khan, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, and Alvaro Bedoya “have made repeated incorrect prejudgments” about the PBMs as well as their group purchasing organizations that aggregate rebates from drug manufacturers, according to legal filings dated Tuesday night.

“The three commissioners’ public condemnations … would lead any neutral observer to believe that their minds are — at the outset of this action — irrevocably closed to contrary views of PBMs and their conduct,” CVS’ motion to disqualify says. “Their disqualification from this matter is required.” Optum Rx’s motion argues Khan, Slaughter, and Bedoya have made “disparaging remarks” that represent “blatant bias.” Khan’s “statements demonstrate that she has already made up her mind regarding the key questions at issue in this matter,” Cigna argued in its motion.

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