Eight U.S. Congressmen have joined the growing chorus calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to reopen the CVS Caremark merger, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said today.

"We strongly believe that CVS Caremark is engaging in unfair and deceptive business practices that are causing harm to consumers, patients and community pharmacies," the lawmakers wrote in their Sept. 14 letter. "We strongly encourage the FTC to reopen the CVS Caremark merger investigation and determine if the acquisition poses a threat of reducing competition or whether CVS is engaging in any deceptive or unfair business practices."

The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Michael Arcuri (D-NY), Marion Berry (D-AR), John Boozman (R-AR), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Walter Jones (R-NC), and Mike Rogers (R-AL). The bipartisan delegation specifically calls out CVS Caremark's "Maintenance Choice" program, which forces patients to fill prescriptions only at the company's retail or mail order operations; higher co-payments for patients choosing independent community pharmacies; mining of patient data to coerce patients to switch to CVS; and misleading branding on drug benefit cards.

"These Congressmen deserve enormous credit for stepping up to protect their constituents' choice in pharmacy," said Bruce T. Roberts, RPh, Executive Vice President and CEO of NCPA. "Our community pharmacists continue to hear from patients complaining of higher prices, coercive tactics and privacy violations as a result of the CVS Caremark merger. We hope the FTC will soon take action to open a formal investigation and consider appropriate regulatory action, such as a firewall between the company's retail operations and competitively sensitive patient data."

In late July, U.S. Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Roger Wicker (R-MS—Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance—as well as Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sent letters to the FTC seeking the agency's intervention. Reps. Jo Bonner (R-AL), Jim Gerlach (R-PA), Larry Kissell (D-NC), Bob Latta (R-OH) Linda Sanchez (D-CA), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) have also contacted the FTC about the merger. Previously, the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices (NLARx), the Consumer Federation of America, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), and the Change to Win coalition expressed support for an FTC investigation.

The National Community Pharmacists Association, founded in 1898, represents the nation's community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 23,000 pharmacies. The nation's independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation's retail prescription medicines. To learn more go to the NCPA Web site.