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潜水简介：

UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health want Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and two other commissioners to recuse themselves from the agency’s lawsuit against the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers.

联合健康集团（UnitedHealth Group）和CVS Health希望联邦贸易委员会（Federal Trade Commission）主席利娜·汗（LinaKhan）和另外两名委员回避该机构对美国最大的药房福利经理提起的诉讼。

In separate documents filed Tuesday, UnitedHealth-owned Optum Rx and CVS Caremark argued Khan and Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya have “extensive” records of bias against PBMs, which should disqualify them from participating in the case.

在周二提交的另一份文件中，联合健康组织（UnitedHealth）旗下的Optum Rx和CVS Caremark辩称，可汗和委员丽贝卡·凯利·斯劳特（RebeccaKelly Slaughter）和阿尔瓦罗·贝多亚（AlvaroBedoya）对PBM有“广泛”的偏见记录，这应该会取消他们参与此案的资格。

In September, the FTC sued the three largest PBMs in the country and their owned or affiliated group purchasing organizations for allegedly engaging in anticompetitive business practices and driving up the price of insulin.

9月，联邦贸易委员会（FTC）起诉国内三大PBM及其拥有或关联的集团采购组织，指控其从事反竞争商业行为并抬高胰岛素价格。

Dive Insight:

潜水洞察：

The complaints filed Tuesday are the latest volley in the PBMs’ dispute with the FTC, with Optum Rx and CVS Caremark arguing the three commissioners can’t be objective in this long-awaited case.

周二提交的投诉是PBMs与联邦贸易委员会（FTC）争端中的最新一轮投诉，Optum Rx和CVS Caremark辩称，这三位委员在这起期待已久的案件中不可能客观。

“The Three Commissioners have a lengthy track record of making public statements that indicate serious bias against Caremark, Zinc [Health Services], and other PBMs,” attorneys for CVS wrote in the motion. “These statements demonstrate that the Three Commissioners have prejudged the Respondent PBMs’ liability in this matter.”.

CVS的律师在动议中写道：“这三位委员有着长期的公开声明记录，表明他们对Caremark、Zn（健康服务）和其他PBM存在严重偏见。”。“这些陈述表明，三名专员已经预先判断了被告PBMs在这一问题上的责任。”。

An FTC spokesperson said the agency had no comment on the motions.

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The original lawsuit by the FTC, filed at the end of September and immediately rebuked by PBMs, followed years of growing pressure from regulators and lawmakers on PBMs, middlemen in the drug supply chain that create and administer lists of drugs covered by health plans.

美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）于9月底提起的最初诉讼，立即遭到PBMs的谴责，此前多年来，监管机构和立法者对PBMs施加了越来越大的压力，PBMs是药品供应链中的中间商，负责创建和管理健康计划涵盖的药品清单。

The agency claimed CVS Caremark, Cigna-owned Express Scripts and Optum Rx created a “perverse” drug rebate system that prioritizes high rebates from drug manufacturers, inflating the price of insulin drugs. Rebates are payments from manufacturers to PBMs in exchanged for placement on insurers’ drug tier formularies.

该机构声称，CVS Caremark、Cigna旗下的Express Scripts和Optum Rx创建了一个“反常”的药品回扣系统，优先考虑药品制造商的高回扣，从而抬高了胰岛素药品的价格。回扣是制造商向PBM支付的款项，以换取保险公司的药品级处方集。

The middlemen argue savings from rebates are largely passed onto their clients. .

中间商辩称，回扣节省下来的钱大部分都转嫁给了客户。。

The agency said Humalog, a brand-name insulin medication, was priced at $21 in 1999. But the cost of the drug soared to more than $274 in 2017 due to the middlemen’s rebating practices.

该机构表示，Humalog是一种名牌胰岛素药物，1999年的价格为21美元。但由于中间商的回扣做法，2017年该药物的成本飙升至274美元以上。

Ahead of the suit, Express Scripts sued the FTC last month over an agency report that showed how the middlemen’s pharmacy practices could contribute to rising drug costs.

在诉讼之前，Express Scripts上个月就联邦贸易委员会（FTC）的一份报告提起诉讼，该报告显示了中间商的药房做法如何导致药品成本上升。

Other state and local governments have sued the large PBMs over insulin prices too. Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and Optum Rx as well as three pharmaceutical companies, alleging they colluded to raise the price of the diabetes drugs.

其他州和地方政府也就胰岛素价格问题起诉了大型PBM。上周，德克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（KenPaxton）起诉了Express Scripts、CVS Caremark和Optum Rx以及三家制药公司，指控它们串通提高糖尿病药物的价格。