Queen Creek, Arizona — The Arizona Attorney General’s Office filed an extensive civil action targeting Express Scripts and Optum, accusing two of the nation's dominant pharmacy benefit managers of fueling the statewide opioid crisis through deceptive formulary designs and undisclosed financial arrangements with drug manufacturers.
In a complaint brought under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, state prosecutors allege that the pharmacy intermediaries leveraged their market control and prescription monitoring networks over two decades to maximize financial incentives. Although the companies assured institutional purchasers as well as patients that drug placement decisions prioritized clinical safety, state officials assert that formulary listings were designed to maximize manufacturer rebate revenue rather than patient health.
The legal action contends that the managers partnered with pharmaceutical producers, including Purdue Pharma, to grant preferred placement to OxyContin and other potent painkillers without requiring standard utilization safeguards like prior authorization protocols or step therapy requirements. State attorneys also allege the intermediaries shared granular prescriber data with manufacturers to target aggressive marketing efforts and failed to halt suspicious prescribing patterns across their mail-order pharmacy distribution networks.
> "These pharmacy benefit managers repeatedly violated Arizona law and placed the health and safety of Arizonans at risk." — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes
State officials emphasized that widespread opioid availability resulted in extensive public health burdens, requiring substantial state expenditures for emergency treatment, healthcare interventions, and social services. The lawsuit asks the court to order restitution, impose civil penalties, mandate profit disgorgement, and prohibit deceptive practices across pharmacy management operations.
