The head of CVS Health’s PBM unit won’t correct testimony given to Congress, the company’s lawyers said in a letter to the House Oversight Committee, arguing that the executive’s comments were accurate.
In a letter sent to the committee Tuesday, the lawyers described CVS Caremark president David Joyner’s comments as “accurate” and said the company “fully stands behind” them.
Last month, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) alleged that the heads of the three major PBMs had contradicted investigations run by lawmakers and by the Federal Trade Commission. CVS’ lawyers, in their response, argued that the reports about the company were inaccurate and had been criticized by other experts.
The FTC report, in particular, “has been criticized by multiple independent experts and two FTC Commissioners as lacking sufficient empirical data and analytical rigor to support any meaningful conclusions,” a CVS Caremark lawyer wrote.
The FTC didn’t respond to requests for comment. A House Oversight Committee spokeswoman said via email that the committee is “reviewing the PBMs’ written responses as well as the additional documents and information they provided.”
In his August letter, Comer said that Joyner had misrepresented the difference between the rates it pays its own pharmacies compared with independent pharmacies, and that his comments were contradicted by a whistleblower. The letters to Cigna and Optum’s executives made related allegations about whether the companies steer patients to their own networks and pharmacies.
Cigna referred to a previous statement saying it stood behind their executive’s testimony and disagreed with the committee’s allegations. A representative for UnitedHealth Group’s PBM Optum Rx said the company stood by its testimony.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add a response from Optum Rx.