U.S. senators urge probe into CVS drug practices

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five U.S. senators have written to antitrust regulators asking the agency to look into allegations that CVS inappropriately used its pharmacy benefits business to win clients and squeeze smaller competitors. Other groups have already complained to the Federal Trade Commission about the CVS drugstore chain's 2007 purchase of Caremark, which specialized in pharmacy benefits, saying that the merger has meant higher prices for consumers in some cases. In letters to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, the five senators cited instances where patients who did not use a CVS pharmacy were required to make a higher co-pay and asked for a probe into whether the company engaged in anti-competitive conduct. "We have been informed that CVS pharmacists receive notification in their electronic prescription processing system if a consumer has filled prescriptions in a non-CVS pharmacy," wrote Senators Mark Pryor, a Democrat, and Roger Wicker, a Republican. "In these situations, the CVS pharmacist is instructed to ... possibly attempt to transfer all prescriptions to the CVS pharmacy," they wrote. Senators Byron Dorgan, Russell Feingold and Amy Klobuchar, all Democrats, wrote that their constituents had complained that they had, for example, been told that they could only fill a limited number of prescriptions outside of the CVS system. "Pharmacies in rural America are already struggling to keep their doors open, and we are concerned that the end result of this merger will be more Main Street pharmacies going out of business," the three warned, in asking the FTC to "reexamine" the merger. CVS rejected the assertions. "Our integrated pharmacy and PBM operations provide greater choice and more convenience for customers and patients, improve health outcomes, and lower overall health care costs for plan sponsors and participants. Any suggestions that our business practices are anti-competitive or that we are violating antitrust laws are totally false," it said in a statement. Independent pharmacists have already asked for a firewall to be erected between CVS's retail pharmacy business and its pharmacy benefits business. CVS has more than 6,900 stores. The FTC had no immediate comment. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Richard Chang)