Share Copy link Email LinkedIn X/Twitter Facebook Print CVS is suing Tennessee’s pharmacy board over a new law prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers from owning or operating pharmacies in the state. The complaint filed Friday argues that Tennesee’s law, which was passed last week despite fervent opposition from major PBMs, constrains out-of-state competition against Tennessee’s independent pharmacies in violation of the Constitution. CVS said it will be forced to close 136 retail and specialty pharmacies and halt mail-order services in Tennessee if the law is allowed to go into effect. Currently, companies have until July 2028 to comply. Tennessee is the second state to pass a law prohibiting PBMs, powerful middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain, from owning pharmacies amid widespread concern that conglomerates like CVS that operate both are using their market p…

Arkansas, which signed a similar bill into law last year, saw its own law enjoined last summer following legal challenges from major PBMs, including CVS. Tennessee lawmakers faced similar opposition. PBMs embarked on an intense lobbying campaign against the bill, called the the Freedom, Access and Integrity in Registered Pharmacy (FAIR Rx) Act, which would shift billions of dollars away from out-of-state operators and to local pharmacies. PBMs and their allies spent more than $7 million and hired more than 60 lobbyists in an attempt to kill the legislation, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association. However, the FAIR Rx Act received broad bipartisan support in both chambers of Tennessee’s legislature. Bill Lee signed the bill into law on Friday, spurring the lawsuit from CVS.