Reports from Louisiana indicate that the state’s Attorney General, Liz Murrill, has launched an investigation into the pharmaceutical heavyweight, CVS. The investigation pertains to the company’s use of customers’ data to distribute text messages lobbying against a proposed state legislation.
The proposed legislation sought to prohibit corporations from owning both pharmacy benefit managers and drug stores. CVS Health Corporation, owning CVS Caremark, one of the country’s leading pharmacy benefit managers and retail pharmacies, stood to be significantly impacted by the bill.
The evidence suggests that legislators were inundated with text messages from CVS, allegedly using scare tactics. For instance, one such text message obtained by The Associated Press warned that the legislation could lead to job losses and increased medication costs.
CVS maintains that it negotiates lower costs for customers and provides access to affordable medications, a claim made on the company’s website. Nevertheless, the Federal Trade Commission cautioned in a 2024 report that such powerful middlemen might be inflating drug costs and squeezing smaller pharmacies.
The company’s text messages to Louisiana residents included a link to a draft letter urging lawmakers to oppose the proposed bill, with claims that it would disrupt the supply of medications and specialty care for patients with complex diseases.
This development follows earlier reports that State Representative Dixon McMakin objected to the messages from CVS, labelling them as misleading and false. Additionally, Rep. Bryan Fontenot revealed that he, too, had received a political text from CVS.
Attorney General Murrill contends that CVS used customers’ personal information, provided for pharmaceutical purposes, to lobby against the proposed legislation for their corporate interests. CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault defended the company’s actions, stating that the texts were a response to a last-minute amendment to the bill.
The political wrangling surrounding the bill, which supporters argued would support independent pharmacies and reduce prescription medication costs, resulted in its overwhelming approval in the House, by a vote of 88-4. However, it encountered opposition in the Senate, dying in the final hour of the 2025 session.
Despite the setback, Louisiana’s Republican Governor, Jeff Landry, intends to call a special session in hopes of passing similar legislation. The facts, as we now know them, indicate that the investigation into CVS’s actions is ongoing, and the issue of prescription drug costs remains a contentious topic.
