Prescription bottles The court found that the agreements the pharmacies had entered into with Express Scripts allowed it to purse mail-order prescription arrangments with consumers without breaching their contract. (Photo: Shutterstock)

An Eighth Circuit Court gave Express Scripts and its mail-order pharmacy program a win this week when it upheld a district court ruling dismissing allegations that the pharmacy benefits manager was taking advantage of its role as a pharmacy benefits manager to switch consumers to its mail-order pharmacy program without the consent of either the pharmacy or consumer.

Five independent pharmacies filed a lawsuit last year arguing that Express Scripts (ESI) was in breach of contract as well as good-faith and fair-dealing covenants by requiring pharmacies to provide information about customers. The pharmacy benefits manager would then use to switch customers to switch to Express Script’s mail-in pharmacy program without their or their pharmacy’s authorization, the pharmacies alleged.

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Emily Payne

Emily Payne is the current deputy editor for ALM's Business & Finance Markets and former managing editor for BenefitsPRO. A Wisconsin native, she has spent the past decade writing and editing for various athletic and fitness publications. She holds an English degree and Business certificate from the University of Wisconsin.

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