Hopkinton pharmacy lawyer: Judge issues injunction against CVS Caremark

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A judge has ordered CVS Caremark to reinstate a provider agreement with independent pharmacy Hopkinton Drug.

Lawrence Green, a Boston-based attorney for Hopkinton Drug, said a court-ordered preliminary injunction took effect last Friday, and a number of patients have returned to Hopkinton Drug to have prescriptions filled after learning that CVS Caremark, the Rhode Island-based provider benefits manager for CVS, had terminated its agreement with Hopkinton Drug.

That decision threatened Hopkinton Drug with the loss of up to 35 percent of its client base, according to Green.

“We are seeing people coming back into the fold,” Green said Wednesday.

Hopkinton Drug filed a lawsuit against CVS Caremark in U.S. District Court at the end of June, after CVS Caremark notified the pharmacy it was terminating its provider agreement because Hopkinton Drug had filled prescriptions for out-of-state customers, in violation of the agreement. Hopkinton Drug claimed it ended the practice following a 2013 audit.

Green said the preliminary injunction, issued during a bench trial, will allow Hopkinton Drug to maintain its business while the lawsuit is tried in the courts.

The goal, according to Green, is to have the provider agreement permanently reinstated.

“We’re very confident that we’re going to prevail here, and we’re very glad to have this protection the in meantime,” Green said.

But Christine Cramer, senior director of public relations at CVS Caremark, disputed Hopkinton Drug's allegations in an e-mail Wednesday.

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"The court has ordered the parties to proceed in arbitration and we are confident in our ability to demonstrate that Hopkinton was terminated as result of its breach of the terms of its contract as a network pharmacy provider and failure to comply with applicable law," Cramer said.