Impacted: All clients across all lines of business

What you need to know

This notice provides an update on Arkansas House Bill (AR HB 1150), now designated as Arkansas Act 624 (Act 624), which affects the regulation of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) within the state.

On July 28, 2025, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing the law from taking effect during ongoing litigation. Consequently, the Board of Pharmacy will not issue permit revocation notices to pharmacies for Jan. 1, 2026.

Background

As we previously communicated, Act 624, signed on April 16, 2025, prohibits PBMs from owning or operating retail, mail-order, or specialty pharmacies in Arkansas. Impacted pharmacies were required to divest or make alternative service arrangements by Jan. 1, 2026. Several legal challenges have since affected the law’s implementation.

Recent legal developments

On July 28, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas granted the plaintiffs in the various lawsuits a preliminarily injunction, which stops the law from taking effect while the case is litigated. There were four lawsuits, filed by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), CVS Health, Express Scripts and Optum. Prime Therapeutics (Prime) is a member of PCMA. 

The court ruled that the plaintiffs were “likely to prevail” on their claim that Act 624 violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives only Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce. The court also ruled that Express Scripts was likely to prevail on its claim that Act 624 was pre-empted by federal law regarding the TRICARE program. Express Scripts, TRICARE's current PBM, owns Accredo specialty pharmacy.

In issuing this preliminary injunction, the court also ruled that the plaintiffs would suffer “irreparable harm” because they would incur significant economic losses by having to close their pharmacies to Arkansas residents, and they would be unable to recover their losses from the state of Arkansas if they ultimately prevailed in the litigation.

Next steps

While litigation continues, PBM-affiliated pharmacies can continue operating in Arkansas pending further court orders. Act 624 would have required the Board of Pharmacy to notify affected pharmacies that their permits would end Jan. 1, 2026, but the injunction halts those notices.
The court’s preliminary ruling preserves current conditions and suggests the plaintiffs may succeed, though the state is expected to continue its legal challenge, possibly through appeals. Prime will continue to provide updates regarding the case as more information becomes available.

Questions

Please reach out to your Prime account team representative.