On April 16, 2025, Arkansas enacted Act 624 (the Act), an unprecedented law prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies in the state. As we discussed in our May 2025 blog post, the law’s passage has already resulted in market disruptions, and PBMs with vertically integrated business models have cautioned that the law will limit patients’ access to drugs and cost many local jobs. 

Now, two of the nation’s largest PBMs, CVS Health and Cigna’s Express Scripts (ESI), have filed federal lawsuits seeking to block implementation of the Act on the grounds that the Act is unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, and harmful to Arkansans. 

A federal appellate court has handed down the first appellate-level decision addressing the merits of drug manufacturers’ challenges to the IRA’s Drug Negotiation Program.

Read about how a win in the Fifth Circuit and the end of Chevron deference could breathe new life into the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program challenges despite continued losses in federal court.

Mintz’s Pharmacy Benefits and PBM Contracting Practice is pleased to present the ‘Fourth Edition: Q1 2025’ of our Mintz IRA Update, a regular publication that delves into developments of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) and their impact on pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders.

In ‘Third Edition: Q2 2024’ of the Mintz IRA Update, we cover updates to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program being considered by CMS, developments in litigation challenging the program, the consequences and costs of redesigning the Part D program, opposition to the use of march-in rights to lower drug prices, and the growing use of state prescription drug affordability boards.

In this edition of the Mintz IRA Update, we cover the status of the negotiations underway between CMS and manufacturers pursuant to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program and current legal challenges to the program, other drug pricing–related IRA initiatives, the IRA’s small biotech exemption, implications associated with removing the average manufacturer price cap on Medicaid rebates, and the Biden administration’s proposed draft guidance on patent “march-in” rights.

Mintz’s PBM & Pharmacy practice is proud to present the Mintz IRA Update, a regular publication that delves into the spectrum of developments under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) impacting the health care industry.

Late last month the Supreme Court of the United States opened the door to a potential sea change in personal jurisdiction over corporate entities.  In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company, the Court held that any corporation registered to do business in a state which requires out-of-state businesses to consent to general personal jurisdiction waives its right to assert a Due Process challenge to jurisdiction in that state. Thus, businesses registered to do business in such states can be sued there, even if none of the events underlying the lawsuit took place in that state.