Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against Horizon Pharma after claiming that the drugmaker “refused to honour certain contractual obligations” under a rebate agreement. Express Scripts added that it removed Linden Care from its network, saying that the specialty pharmacy mostly dispensed drugs from Horizon and failed to fulfill its contractual agreements.
Express Scripts spokesman Brian Henry noted that the lawsuit is seeking $140 million from Horizon as it looks “to recover money rightfully due its clients.” The pharmacy benefit manager indicated that it is also evaluating several other pharmacies that it said appeared to dispense mostly Horizon medications.
In response, Horizon said it doesn’t have an ownership stake or possess an option to purchase any pharmacy, and all pharmacies that distribute its branded medicines are fully independent. “The notion that Linden Care is a so-called “captive pharmacy” of Horizon Pharma is entirely false,” the drugmaker added.
According to Horizon, the lawsuit relates entirely to a previously disclosed dispute concerning a prior rebate agreement with Express Scripts, adding that it terminated the deal after the pharmacy benefit manager “failed to live up to its contractual obligations.” Horizon said that it is still reviewing the allegations in the complaint, but they are without merit and the company intends to defend itself.
Last month Express Scripts and CVS Health announced that they would be cutting ties with specialty pharmacy distributor Philidor for not complying with the terms of its provider agreement. The move comes in the wake of recent allegations that Valeant Pharmaceuticals uses pharmacies related to Philidor, which the company has an option to buy, to store inventory and record the transactions as sales in order to artificially inflate revenue.
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