Hawaii Drug Price Suit Against PBMs to Be Heard in Federal Court

A federal judge denied Hawaii’s request to send a case against the country’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers back to state court as multidistrict litigation over insulin prices plays out in federal court.

Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi of the US District Court for the District of Hawaii said in an order Wednesday that CVS Caremark successfully met all requirements under the US federal officer removal statute in requesting that Hawaii Attorney General Anne E. Lopez’s lawsuit against the company, as well as Express Scripts and OptumRx, should be transferred from the Hawaii Circuit Court, First Circuit.

Lopez filed her ...