PBMs seek to remove FTC Chair Lina Khan from insulin-price suit

UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health have 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 and CVS Caremark 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.”