Six Texas pharmacies have brought suit against CVS Caremark for racketeering and misappropriation of trade secrets, accusing the company of requiring patients to buy maintenance medications at CVS retail pharmacies. The lawsuit, filed in September of 2010, claims that CVS does not maintain a “firewall” between its retail pharmacies and the pharmacy benefits management side of its business as required by the Federal Trade Commission. According to the complaint, each of the plaintiff pharmacies owns a trade secret in its patient lists, prescription files, and integrated patient information. The lawsuit claims that CVS misappropriated this confidential patient information, which was disclosed to CVS through the claims adjudication process.
Defendants moved to dismiss and compel arbitration on December 6, 2010. The deadline for plaintiffs to file their reply to defendants’ motion to dismiss and compel arbitration was April 25, 2011.