United States of America: Announced Settlement in FTC lawsuit against Surescripts for illegally monopolising e-prescription markets

On 27 July 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it reached a settlement in its lawsuit against Surescripts LLC, a technology company that supports e-prescriptions. The company was charged with monopolising the market for routing e-prescriptions and the market for determining eligibility for prescription coverage. According to the proposed order filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Surescripts would be prohibited from imposing a majority share requirement on its routing and eligibility customers and discriminating against or threatening customers who refuse to agree to this requirement, preventing customers from promoting competitors’ services, preventing customers to engage in business with competitors, entering into agreements that prevent rivals from competing with Surescripts LLC in routing and eligibility, among others. The prohibitions are also extended to other services, such as the medication history service and the on-demand formulary service.