WOONSOCKET, R.I., July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CVS Caremark today announced a global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which further advances the company’s leadership in delivering greater affordability for prescription drugs. The settlement resolves all outstanding FTC litigation and investigations related to CVS Health® (NYSE: CVS) — including its pharmacy benefits management and affiliated pharmacy businesses — involving rebate, pharmacy network contracting, and vertical integration issues.
The agreement eliminates the need for ongoing litigation and investigations and allows CVS Caremark to remain focused on delivering more value for American consumers and employers, lowering prescription drug costs, increasing transparency, and helping customers deliver affordable health care to the people they serve.
“CVS Caremark has led the industry in evolving the pharmacy benefit management model and has delivered value to our customers and clients,” said Ed DeVaney, Executive Vice President CVS Health and President, CVS Caremark. “Today’s agreement advances and reinforces the changes we have already put in place and ensures affordability for families and patients across the country. CVS Caremark remains committed to lowering costs and bringing greater transparency to prescription drug pricing.”
The changes CVS Caremark has made, and continues to make, are lowering the cost of health care for millions of people:
- Last year alone, CVS Caremark negotiated with pharmaceutical companies to save our clients and their members nearly $80 billion on their prescription drugs.
- As an early advocate of offering point-of-sale rebates to our clients, CVS Caremark delivered nearly $900 million in savings to 25 million Americans just last year.
- Through greater client adoption of point-of-sale rebates, and continued innovation, we expect to help our clients drive estimated savings of $450 million per year for each of the next 10 years.
As outlined in the agreement CVS Caremark will implement a series of actions into its standard offering to commercial clients, including:
- Aligning certain member cost sharing more closely with the net cost of medications after rebates to help push more savings to members at the point-of-sale
- Simplifying pricing structures by moving away from rebate guarantees and spread pricing
- Expanding transparency through enhanced reporting on drug pricing, rebates, and member payments, along with disclosure of broker and consultant compensation
- Expanding affordability programs for medicines, including a new offering that will cap members’ insulin costs at $25 per month
- Promoting point-of-sale rebate passthrough as a standard option to encourage plan sponsors to share drug cost savings more directly with members at the pharmacy counter
- Delinking manufacturer compensation from list prices
- Transitioning to acquisition-based reimbursement for independent retail pharmacies to ensure reimbursements are more closely aligned with their actual costs
- Counting TrumpRx purchases toward member deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums where allowed by law, subject to certain conditions in the settlement
CVS Caremark continues to introduce innovations that simplify the pharmacy experience and help lower prescription drug costs. These efforts include expanding automated prior authorization technology, accelerating the adoption of lower cost biosimilars through formulary strategies, and offering benefit designs that provide greater transparency and predictability in prescription pricing.
Many of the measures in the agreement align with CVS Caremark’s existing affordability and transparency initiatives, including point-of-sale rebate options, flat-dollar copays, copay caps, $0 preventive drug lists, and the TrueCost™ pricing model each designed to reduce out-of-pocket costs and provide greater clarity at the drug level. These efforts also include ReducedRx®, which offers $25/month insulin at more than 60,000 network pharmacies nationwide. In addition, Aetna has been providing fully insured commercial clients with point-of-sale rebates since 2019.
CVS Caremark will begin implementing the provisions of the agreement in accordance with timelines established with the FTC and will continue working with regulators, employers, and industry partners to strengthen transparency and affordability across the pharmacy benefit system.
About CVS Health
CVS Health is a leading health solutions company simplifying health care one person, one family and one community at a time. As of March 31, 2026, the Company had approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations, more than 1,000 walk-in and primary care medical clinics and a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 88 million plan members. The Company also serves an estimated more than 37 million people through a broad range of health insurance products and related services. The Company’s integrated model uses personalized, technology driven services to connect people to simply better health, increasing access to quality care, delivering better outcomes, and lowering overall costs.
Media contact
Ethan Slavin
860-273-6095
Ethan.Slavin@CVSHealth.com
Investor contact
Larry McGrath
800-201-0938
InvestorInfo@CVSHealth.com
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SOURCE CVS Health
