North Dakota Defends Pharmacy Law From Familiar Challenge

A new North Dakota law regulating how pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts and CVS Health interact with pharmacies doesn’t conflict with the federal employee benefits or Medicare statutes, the state told a federal appeals court.

The Eighth Circuit should reject a challenge to the state’s laws filed by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the state said in a Jan. 28 brief. The laws, passed in 2017, regulate the “practice of pharmacy” and don’t interfere with health plan administration under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act or Medicare, the state said.

The PCMA, a trade group representing the PBMs that ...